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This comes across as something that can be called just short of a revolution, as far as football goes. There are things that have become synonymous with the Football League. Things that have defined the way clubs operate and fans enjoy the game. But in a very surprising turn of events now the Football League wants to, hold your breath, scrap transfer window and ban any club that might fall behind on the tax payments.

This shocker, though pleasant one for many, came to light through Lord Mawhinney’s, chairman of Football League, four-page letter to Culture Secretary Andy Burnham. The letter is in response to the questions that Government has asked as far as League’s football finances and the overall running of the game is concerned.

These questions were asked not just to the Football League rather to Football Association and Premier League as well. The seven questions were put forth to all of them last October. The Premier League has already sent in its reply earlier in the week. They have come up with their own ideas but not as surprising as these ones. The chairman has made it clear that they would need Government help to make alterations in rules where FIFA is dead against changes. But that can create issues of its own as in the case of international player transfers, something even outside the ambit of Government. But League seems to have answer to that, or at least a possibility. They are proposing a distinction between domestic and international transfers!

And as it may appear like a strange and almost impossible way out to you as it did to me, even Lord Mawhinney doesn’t know the answer. “I do not know the answer to that,” was what he said when asked what the chances were of changes being made to the transfer window.

Can’t blame him either for as I think it is going to cause quite a stir in the football administration and fraternity. Could we expect something similar happening in other countries and leagues? As I can understand it, it’s going to be very intriguing football future if the Government steps in to make changes on the proposed lines.

Liverpool completely ousted Newcastle United in a comfortable 3-0 win on Sunday. Though Newcastle started out strong, it could not continue its ongoing onslaught and was deterred by the stiff resistance from Liverpool.

Alan Shearer the Newcastle manager left his former England striker Michael Owen on the bench which proved to be an added disadvantage in the face of constant inaction and failure to convert by the Newcastle players. Yossi Benayoun with his seemingly blessed Nike Mercurial Vapor III SG football boots and Dirk Kuyt, who also has the perfect touch, gave Liverpool a 2-0 lead by halftime and substitute Lucas Leiva converted a free-kick by Aurelio into a third goal in the 87th minute. Joey Barton infamous for his aggressive tactics added to his reputation with a dreadful tackle near the Newcastle corner flag and caught Xabi Alonso on the left ankle. This uncalled for lunge left Newcastle with 10 players.

This was Liverpool’s 22nd victory that upped their points to a total of 77 leaving them only three points short of Manchester United which stands at 80 points. Rafa Benitez the Liverpool manager was clearly ecstatic with the win but still urged the players to push on. Newcastle’s latest defeat leaves it on the brink of it losing its English Premier League membership at the 18th place with only three games to go while the title seems like a distant dream. Weak defence led to the complete collapse of the team. However, Liverpool stands strong and improves its game with every win. Manchester United better take notice and be prepared to take on Liverpool that seems to get hungrier as the finals draw to a close.

After the defeat from Manchester United with a score of 1-0, the Arsenal Goalkeeper voiced his opinion of the dismal performance made by his team mates. With an outstanding four saves Manuel Almunia has a unique personality that is distinct from his other team mates even in the dressing room. The only thing working for the team, was Almunia’s goalkeeper gloves. Without his contribution, United would have rampaged Arsenal and the Score tally would have been a real demoraliser for the team.

Known for his honest and frank opinion he could not hold back his feelings and remarked that a number of players of Arsenal even before the start of the play were under tremendous pressure and as a result after 25 minutes of play went totally blank. Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger was clearly unhappy. The players were not able to keep the ball with them and it appeared from their body language as if they did not even know how the ball should be kept.

He also added that even in the dressing room they were very disappointed as it appeared to be a lost game. He said he was surprised and felt very bad in the manner some of the players performed as all of them were really looking forward for this game for a long time. He further remarked that there was no doubt that it was a big game and competition where pressures do play a role, but he expected the players had that requisite experience to handle such pressures.

However despite this defeat of 1-0 from Manchester United, Almunia is confident that Arsenal will overturn the situation and they are capable of doing it.

The hottest pair today in the modern day football rivalries is Arsene Wenger versus Sir Alex Ferguson. When we compare their background it differs vastly but the basic philosophy of Football for both of them is the same that is attacking and free –flowing manner of playing in the games.

On one hand Arsene Wenger has a team that outshines in aesthetics when compared with all the other rivals while the steel of Ferguson’s United cannot be matched by Arsenal that is the trade mark of all successful teams of Ferguson. It would sure be exciting to see the two super managers face off against each other in a game of Football Manager 2007, never mind in real life. Wenger has really come out of that image of that Calm and composed Frenchman who would just observe sitting at the touchline. His involvement has now become full of emotions and is one of the best passionately involved boss. However he still has not reached that stage of motivating by fist- pumping as is the case with Ferguson who is seen employing with his team.

If we consider the Combustibility factor and rate them on a scale of ten, then both the men have the capacity and the potential of reaching beyond the scale of ten. But the method employed by both of them varies to vent the fury. On one hand Ferguson takes the straight route irrespective whether it is the referees or it is the rival managers, whereas the fury of Wenger can be counted from the word “Listen” that measures his fury. It is a calculated effort directed on those whom he perceives has done wrong to his team of himself.

The success of the two can be compared by the Silverware where Manchester United have got a total score of 15 plus 4 Community/Charity Shields since the arrival of Ferguson and Arsenal score is 7 plus 4 Community/Charity Shields since the arrival of Wenger

Stamford Bridge a week back wasn’t all that the audiences had to witness. The Chelsea with four all draws toped. It seems that it was difficult for Liverpool to decide where they were going for the last night, for the leading or for the supporting actor.

Liverpool seemed to have ignored Andrei Arshavin who had 4 goals in his kitty after the audition of the Invisible Man’s character in the movie. In 1988-1989 Michael Thomas the last moment victory over Andrei Arshavin is still remembered as a bleak chapter in the history of Liverpool. Steve McMahon reminder to Anfield about the championship being only a minute away couldn’t be topped by anything. He defiantly taught Anfield a lesson. Another Arsenal takeaway never happened.

As Emmanuel Adebayor & Robin van Persie weren’t there for the for the strike and Robin van Persie was benched, Premier League wasn’t Arsene Wenger’s fight. Arsenal London’s focus is the red shadow looms for the coming week. Yellow was worn in the powerful breath taking opening, witnessing Arsenal defensive line with the red tide breaking. Lukasz Fabianski, the goal keeper was no clown here to wait to reconcile Wembley’s error.

10- match surge of Liverpool after the Riverside nadir and that unexplained surrender of 2-1 with wobbling 30 miles east has forged the idea of the a first championship for 19 years and the Premier League crown into reality driving the Merseysiders on.

Liverpool’s team is learning the way home despite the points dropped. Rafa Benitez’s project cannot be denied, even if they might not be there this season. Arsenal were there for most of the games, establishing that it was Arshavin’s night & football’s.

It seems that anonymous data that is reflecting in some gigantic calculation is enough to reduce the game of football and footballers to a set of statistics. Never the less there are people out there insisting to see the world like that, for those Dimitar Berbatov’s first season at Manchester United states reflected 13 goals in all competitions; 27 matches of Barclays Premier League with 8 goals; had shooting accuracy around 50% with 20% conversion chances. It is been argued that this is a woeful season for a player who costs £30.75 million. The statistics are fair but they fail to convey – the essence of Dimitar Berbatov’s contribution; the artistry of his volley; the elegance of his pull back & takes; the audacity of his lightning turn and intuitive flick.

The statistics of almost all the matches, for all the top performers and for the all breath taking events are collected to analyze that “X” factor of success. There is an entire academic set up trying to establish the reason for the dominance of English teams in the Champions League. The reason is above that in the statistics, the reason is the peerless spectacle. It should be seen in the vision of Arsène Wenger & Ferguson in particular.

The fans and spectators would always like to witness the game, share the excitement and would love to enjoy the game. Though they would understand the statistical matrix very clearly to understand the win and lose side of a game but no one would leave the ground with a percentage of passes competed in his head; unless of course they were recording and analysing everything in real time on their new Dell Inspiron 1545 notebook. However, for most normal people, only  the moments and excitement would be locked in their heads, and not the individual shooting, or passing statistics. The fun they have at the live game can never be tasted in the ProZone’s matrix of numbers or in front of a computer screen.

Analysing the present deterioration in the form of Robinho in the season’s second half, Mark Hughes the boss of Manchester City, said that all the teams in the opposition camp are developing a defence strategy that is centred on the concept of making Robinho ineffective by stopping him.

After the record deal of 32.5 million pound for transfer of this Brazilian star from Real Madrid in the previous summer that shocked everybody there was lot of expectations from him. At a press conference Hughes said that Robby is one of those players who have that ability of affecting the game and the match in an extremely positive manner. He further added that after investigating into the matter in the seasons second half is that at the present moment the findings are that the teams have observed his style of playing closely and have focussed on to develop a strategy of making the impact of Robby ineffective in the match and they have been successful in reducing his impact on the game in the seasons second half as compared to the first half.

In other words because of his outstanding abilities he has become the centre of the target for most of the other teams planning strategy. The problem is not with Robinho’s Nike Mercurial football boots, but rather with the way most team’s defence have essentially analysed his tendencies and figured him out. This has been the struggle that is applicable not only for Robby but for many other players also. Now with the situation in which Manchester City has placed themselves, Mark Hughes is now desperate and must be wishing that Robinho improves his performance and delivers the goods as had been expected from him in the past.

Manchester United has dominated the awards list of the PFA with a total of five out of the six nominated player coming from Manchester United and only non-Manchester United nomination being Steven Gerrard from Liverpool. The other Manchester United nominees are Nemanja Vidic, Edwin van der Sar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and Rio Ferdinand. The voting for these awards had taken place before United Manchester had their recent plunge in the form which goes to explain the total domination in the list of nominee in the “PFA player of the year award.”

There is a strong possibility of Defender Nemanja Vidic as the most favourite contender to lift the trophy of the “PFA player of the year award.” As far as Steven Gerrard is concerned there is also a possibility of the Adidas Predator Absolute X TRX SG football boots wearing player benefiting from split votes over United players. If Ryan Giggs wins this would be his first award and if Cristiano Ronaldo wins the award he would be the first player to win consecutively for three years.

Similar is the situation in the Nominees for the “PFA young player of the year award” where Rafael Da Silva and Jonny Evans the United pair are the strong contenders for this award. However besides this pair Stephen Ireland of Manchester United, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor of Aston Villa and Aaron Lennon of Tottenham are also in the race.

Both Young and Agbonlahor from Aston have been impressive throughout while on the other hand even Lennon of Tottenham has also been successful in drawing attention this season.

Federico Macheda has once again shot to limelight with one more crucial intervention that led Manchester United to win 2-1 against Sunderland. He has been brought off the bench one more time in the past six days and it worked again. The seventeen year old scored the winning goal for United.

Somehow there is a strange feeling about the situation in which United is placed. At present they have restored their single-point advantage  over Liverpool and are placed in the Premier League table at the top and they have already captured the League Cup and are also in line in the FA Cup semi-final. On the other hand Fulham and Liverpool have registered a good win against Manchester United. They have managed a 2-2 draw to Porto at home and had late wins against Sunderland and Aston Villa with the help of a 17-year young Italian lad that somehow are not very convincing. This feeling has also been reflected by Ferguson.

However whatever is the case Macheda in one week had made it happen again which goes to prove that he has that something extra and special that works. At this pace he is quickly outshining even Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of star calibre, and we expect the popular young player will be endorsing his Nike Total 90 Laser II SG and signing other lucrative sponsorship deals before too long. The Sunderland defenders for their part said that these are the old Manchester United tricks of scoring late goals that he has observed over the past many years and it just proves that it is a great side. The manager has the outstanding capability of churning out one player after another and making one great team after another. Surprised at this secret of success he gave the entire credit to the manager for believing in the young lad.

At 11.30 am when the gates of St James Park were opened thousands of fans gathered for the opening session of the training of the players of Newcastle. It became a grand affair as they cheered their players over the training session. It was schoolchildren’s Easter holidays and thousands of them gathered making the crowd number to 7500 as the 38-year old Alan Shearer manager of Newcastle marked the beginning of one of the toughest survival battle on a day with warm sunshine.

The crowds watched as Shearer and Iain Dowie his assistant started the shooting practice supervision. Meanwhile Mark Viduka and Joey Barton who were absentees for a long term worked jointly recovering from the injury. The crowed cheered their players each time the ball crossed over to the net something the crowed desperately wants to it to happen more frequently in the near future.

The highlights being when the manager could not resist the repetition of his past after his first in the double he claimed in the game. Meanwhile Michael Owen the Captain also joined in practice for shooting. With the crucial match on Saturday of the Premier League coming up the defenders Sebastien Bassong and Steven Taylor were not to be seen as they are still battling with the groin injury and ankle injury.

It was a pleasure to watch Shearer pass on his experience of a record 206 goals and his 20 years of football life and serve his club of his home town. The training session included close range shots that peppered Fraser Foster and Steve Harper the goalkeepers ahead of the tough challenges to be faced by them in the seven games remaining in the season. Admittedly, the training could have been said to be tough or extreme, and no one was forced to run countless laps or spend extra time on a treadmill like the Tunturi T85. With that said, no one can question Shearer’s desire to propel Newcastle back to winning form and save his former team. The determination of Shearer could be seen by the extraordinary struggle he has to make to save the relegation of the club where he would use everything and everyone who are at his disposal.