A More Detailed Fiver

1. The aspect that pleases me most about the ‘Harry Houdini’ like acts at Tottenham Hotspur is the greater freedom offered to Luka Modric by Harry Redknapp, the new manager of Spurs. Tim Vickery of the BBC in a fascinating article describes how contemporary football’s emphasis on strength, pace and athleticism is destroying the role of 'foot on the ball' playmakers such as Juan Roman Riquelme.* Vickery talks about Riquelme’s role in keeping alive two unfashionable concepts in football, viz. (i) change of rhythm, the idea that the game can be slowed down before the application of the killer pass and (ii) surprise - the ball that no one was expecting that wrong foots the entire defence. Modric in my belief is capable of a similar impact as he finally seems to be coming into his own at Spurs. By playing him alongside Jenas and Huddlestone in the center of midfield, Redknapp has offered a greater deal of freedom to Modric and this is already reflective in his performances over the last couple of games. For reasons well documented, I certainly hope Modric can shine and bring back memories of the great playmakers of the years gone by.

2. I am extremely surprised that Rio Ferdinand does not find himself in the list of players nominated for either the Ballon d'Or or the FIFA World Player of the Year award. Ferdinand’s reading of the game and his positioning ability is second to none. One doesn’t see Ferdinand make last ditch tackles like a Carragher or a Terry largely because his superior positioning ensures that there is no need for such a tackle. I am not for one moment suggesting that Carragher and Terry are mediocre defenders, but their poor positioning at times requires them to come up with fantastic tackles. Paolo Maldini during his prime hardly ever went to ground and that is a hallmark of a truly great defender. Even as late as 2007, Maldini was at his imperious best in the Champions League semi final against Manchester United as he nullified the threat of Cristiano Ronaldo with minimum of fuss. Ferdinand’s form over the last couple of years should surely have at least got him a nomination for the awards.

3. ‘Compact’ is a word that Rafa Bentiez loves and Liverpool certainly displayed compactness in their highly impressive victory at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Chelsea sorely missed their ‘bully’ up front, Didier Drogba, who affords them a different avenue when they are unable to break their way through the midfield of an opposition. Against Liverpool, Chelsea were neither able to get their passing going nor did they have the option of knocking the ball up to Drogba. Liverpool however were brilliantly marshalled and although they were somewhat lucky with their goal, Benitez’s tactical nous shone through as they maintained their lead in typically resolute fashion. The performance at the Bridge was certainly more than a statement of intent from the Merseysiders.

4. Sachin Tendulkar rolled back the years to produce an innings of great style against Australia at the Kotla on Wednesday. However even as he was stroking the ball with great aplomb, there was always this feeling that he wouldn’t make a ton. Tendulkar has recently developed a bad habit of not converting his starts, which it must be said, is very unlike the Master Blaster. The quality of the innings though was very much like the ones we were used to seeing from Sachin at his best in the mid to the late 90s.

5. News has just filtered through that Gautham Gambhir has been given a one match ban for his needless elbow on Shane Watson. Having previously committed a similar offence, the match referee is thoroughly justified in banning Gambhir. This is where Gambhir needs to learn from his fellow double centurion of the first test, V.V.S. Laxman. In spite of having made the Aussies look almost pedestrian at times, not a single word of disrespect has been uttered by Laxman towards the Aussies and that is what wins the admiration of fans around the world.

*(http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/timvickery/2008/10/riquelme_one_of_a_dying_breed.html)

Suhrith's Fiver *

1. Amit Mishra: A pleasure to watch
Watching Mishra bowl brought back memories of the recently retired Mushtaq Ahmed. Mishra mixes his deliveries wonderfully well and he possesses a canny googly, which makes him lovely to watch. I hope he can go on to play many a game for India.

2. Emile Heskey: The missing piece
I read somewhere that the common factor between Amr Zaki, the BPL’s top scorer and Wayne Rooney, the joint top scorer of the European qualifying groups for the 2010 World Cup is that both are partnered by Emile Heskey. No wonder Rafa Bentiez wants him back at Anfield.

3. David Villa: Can do no wrong
Six goals from six starts for Valencia and five from four for Spain means that David Villa is the top striker in Europe at the moment. Rooney has been superb over the last few games, but Villa has been even better.

4. Newcastle, Tottenham: Bottom two
Newcastle and Spurs are in serious danger of relegation, unless they can amend their ways soon enough. Everyone knows that both these teams are too good to go down, but since when has that mattered?

5. Team orders: Why no hue and cry?
Even as Lewis Hamilton cruised to victory at Shanghai, Ferrari team orders ensured that Felipe Massa finished ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. Team orders had been outlawed by the FIA after Barrichello handed victory to Schumacher at Austria. This time however not a single eyebrow was raised as Raikkonen let Massa pass him. I wonder why?

* Inspired by Tony’s Fiver at: http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/tony_cascarino/index.html

Lack of Quality

It was a case of ‘Bravo Bravo Fantastico’ for the second race running as Fernando Alonso stormed to his twenty first formula one victory at the Fuji Speedway earlier today. Alonso’s victory at the Japanese Grand Prix was as close to a perfect race as one can expect from a driver in a season which has thus far been characterized by the ineptness of the title challengers in sealing the driver’s championship. In spite of the fact that the title is far from decided going into the final two races of the season, this season in my opinion ranks as one of the worst ever of the recent past. Yes, we have had the spectacle of the night grand prix at Singapore and some swashbuckling action on the track, but the fact that neither Felipe Massa nor Lewis Hamilton has been able to close out the championship by taking advantage of the other’s mistakes has for me taken much of the glow out of this season. At times it has seemed like neither of them really wants to win the driver’s title with both electing to make ruinous decisions on the track as was evidenced with Hamilton’s move in the opening lap and Massa’s idiocy on the next at the Japanese Grand Prix today.

In my belief, if it had been either Schumacher or Alonso in Hamilton’s place, the title race would have been done and dusted by now. Would Schumacher have tried a daring move on a driver who was not competing with him for the title on the opening lap of the race? I think not. Sir Jackie Stewart once said that a driver cannot afford to make more than one blunder in a season if he harbours hopes of winning the championship. Hamilton and Massa though in spite of their numerous slip-ups this season are the main title challengers with two races to go and this is down to the simple fact that neither of them possesses the capabilities to close a championship out in the manner in which a true great can.

Hamilton for all his racing abilities rarely comes close to flawlessness on the track over the course of an entire race and often seems to crumble under pressure as he did today. He must be warned that he runs the risk of turning into a Jacques Villeneuve unless he can learn to make the right choices under pressure and curb his instinct to race when not necessary. Massa has never ever been considered at par with the likes of Raikkonen and Alonso and his performance at Japan clearly showed why. The manner of the performances from Hamilton and Massa over the last couple of races suggests to me that Robert Kubica who is only twelve points behind Hamilton may well be in with a chance going into the final two races of the season. At least Kubica has displayed the ability to perform under pressure and even if he fails to pull of an unlikely driver’s title, it would only be fair to describe him as the best driver of what has been an appalling season of formula one racing. 

Ponting Leads Aussie Charge

I was privileged to witness Ricky Ponting’s thirty sixth test match century yesterday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore and I must say it was a knock which was filled more with substance than style. Ponting has erased all the demons of his past with this fighting knock and has more than set the tone for what should be an extremely fascinating series. He is usually an instinctive batsman who plays his shots when the ball is there to be hit, but yesterday he showcased a different aspect to his game and personality, one that is packed with grit, determination and commitment. After having lost Hayden to a poor umpiring decision in the first over of play, Ponting provided his country with just the kind of knock that was required of him. He saw off the new ball with untypical circumspection and then handled Harbhajan Singh in a manner which far from suggested the fact that Harbhajan had scalped him on eight occasions before the start of the first test match.

There is no doubt that Harbhajan's and Kumble's innocuous bowling made it rather simple for Ponting to get his first test match ton on Indian soil, but Ponting’s approach clearly suggested that he had come to India with a specific game plan on how to handle the spinners. He refrained from lunging outside the off stump and consciously played the ball as late as possible and most importantly as he himself pointed out in an interview at the end of the day, he trusted his technique which had got him thirty five test match centuries prior to the commencement of the ongoing test match. Once he had settled down, the crowd got to witness some gorgeous extra cover drives of the back foot and a couple of majestically executed lofted flick shots of Harbhajan. With Hussey taking off from where Ponting left off and considering the surprisingly slow pace of the Australian innings, India have their task cut out, if they want to get anything out of this match.

No need for Makeleles

Previously, I had written about the demise of the ‘trequartista’ in England, a player who pulls strings from the hole between the midfield and the defense of the opposition. A position, however which is very much alive and kicking in England is that of a holding midfielder, a player who is deployed between the back four and the conventional central midfield arrangement of the team. The position has attained such enormous craze that it is sometimes described as the ‘Makelele role’. I for one despise the role and wouldn’t disagree with Cantona’s description of Didier Deschamps as the water carrier of the French national team. I fail to find the logic in statements that trophies cannot be won without a spoiler in the middle of midfield. Manchester United have won silverware for years now without having a single defensive midfielder in their team. Even Owen Hargreaves who was signed last season to offer greater solidity to the team has more often than not been deployed in wide areas to ensure greater discipline. Of course I wouldn’t dispute the presence of a 'Makelele' when the rest of the team is brimming with pure attacking flair and a great deal of defensive indiscipline to go with it, like the last great Real Madrid team did. A manager should however as far as possible be looking to build a team with all round abilities rather than a team with five players possesing glittering attacking talent and one player who spoils and is only of passing the ball five yards to his left or right.

The great Manchester United and Arsenal teams of the 90s did not possess a single spoiler in them and this is testimony to Ferguson and Wenger’s philosophy of building teams that look to win rather than destroy. No doubt the Arsenal versus Man United games witnessed fantastic physical battles between Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane, but both of these players in their prime possessed immense stamina which enabled them to contribute tremendously to the attacking causes of their teams. Keane for me was the most complete player, the Premier League has ever seen. He was never the most naturally gifted, but he could tackle, pass, head, finish and over and above these qualities, he had the sort of commitment that saw him bully many a midfield battle over the years. Players like Keane, no doubt aren’t exactly a dime a dozen, but there are several players who can play from deeper positions in midfield and at the same time contribute to the team from an attacking perspective. Unquestionably, with the rigidity of the everyday back four, managers can seldom sacrifice on the defensive aspect of their central midfielders, but that’s no reason for insisting on one-dimensional players like a Gattuso or a Mascherano in your line-up.

I am not for one moment suggesting that managers should do away with holding midfielders. In fact there is no greater joy than watching the likes of Andrea Pirlo and Xabi Alonso bossing the middle of midfield with their bright passing abilities. I am just not one for having a spoiler. The need for such a player has in my mind arisen largely because of the persistence of managers with a four man back four which requires a shield in front of the centre backs to avoid being unlocked with consummate ease by players who drift into the hole between the midfield and the defense of the opposition. In my opinion though this job of acting as a lock in front of the defense can be easily performed by players who are equally adept at creating cross field balls of the most supreme level and therefore there is no real necessity to have someone in your team sheet who can do nothing but ruin the opposition’s play. Spain’s recent triumph at the European Championships is indicative of the fact that success can be earned without installing a player as a spoiler in the middle of midfield. Marcos Senna who anchored the midfield for Spain was equally effective with his distribution as he was with his defensive duties. Fernando Gago of Real Madrid, Daniele De Rossi of Roma and Michael Carrick of Manchester United are all players who can act as an effective lock and at the same time display outstanding attacking attributes. Gago is much like Fernando Redondo in so far as his style of play is concerned. Redondo who anchored Real Madrid to their Champions League victory in 1998, their first since 1966 was a player of the highest calibre who owned supreme passing skills and fine football intelligence leading him to being described by Fabio Capello as a ‘tactically perfect’ player.

Having said that, I do understand the necessity to play spoilers on the odd occasion, perhaps to nullify a truly phenomenal talent such as Kaka for instance, but I find no requirement for such a player day in and day out. The modern phenomenon of insistence on defense minded central midfielders is taking the fun out of the game and managers need to realize sooner rather than later that they can win football games without having a single-minded defensive midfielder in their team.

Tactical Blunder

Sir Alex Ferguson got it tactically wrong. It’s as simple as that. In my opinion, Ferguson pulled off a ‘Benitez’ yesterday by picking a team that was brimming with attacking talent and playing them in a system that somehow did not do justice to their abilities. When a team plays with conventionally central players such as Rooney and Anderson on the wings, it is of immense importance that the full-backs bomb down the wings to provide width to the team. Yesterday’s performance against Liverpool was very unlike Manchester United in both the manner of performance and in the manner in which the team was set-up. Anderson and Rooney were constantly tucking into the middle, leaving gaping holes on their respective touch lines which remained unfilled for almost the entirety of the match by Evra and Brown. The very presence of Brown as a full back itself in my view warrants the presence of a conventional right winger in the side, especially if a regulation 4-4-2 is employed. Unquestionably the team as a whole were dismal to say the very least, but I believe Ferguson needs to take a fair share of the blame for getting it surprisingly wrong on the day. 

It’s not often that Sir Alex gets outsmarted in a big BPL game, but that in my opinion is exactly what happened against Liverpool at Anfield. If Rooney, Tevez and Berbatov are to be picked in the same team, it’s of vital importance that a system whereby one of Rooney and Tevez is deployed in a role behind the other two is utilized. Using Rooney on the right side by itself isn’t disastrous, but when Wes Brown is playing at right full back, it’s nothing short of catastrophic. A 4-4-2 works best when you are either playing with traditional wide players or when the four in midfield are engaged as a diamond. On hearing the team line-up I felt Ferguson was installing a midfield diamond with Rooney at its apex, but sadly for Man United it was not to be. No doubt, the team at times defended worse than school boys do, but had Ferguson adopted an approach whereby the composition of the team could have better benefited, Man United might not have come away with nothing from the trip.

Rafael Benitez on the other hand, who was lambasted by critics before the game, got it right for the first time in a big game in the BPL. The pressuring high up the pitch, worked like magic for Liverpool. Dirk Kujt who has the worst first touch in the world, was at his unsurprising industrious best playing in his now familiar role of a defensive forward. Albert Riera the new signing from Espanyol enjoyed a superb debut and caused Brown more than a problem or two with his excellent burst of pace and clever movement. The system that Man United adopted allowed Carragher and Skrtel to both concentrate on Berbatov, with Tevez being hounded by his compatriot, Mascherano for almost the entire match barring the third minute when he failed to track Tevez’s run leading to the opening goal of the game. The defensive efforts of Mascherano permitted the stylish Xabi Alonso to pick up the pieces for Liverpool and run the game in whatsoever manner he deemed necessary, from the middle of midfield.  Overall, Bentiez got one better on Ferguson on the day and United need to sort their tactics out soon. With Ronaldo set to return, probably even for the midweek Champions League encounter, Ferguson I am sure will bring all his experience into moulding the wealth of attacking options that he has at his disposal and you can expect Manchester United to be back with a bang before too long. 

Hick to Retire

Graeme Hick’s decision to retire from first class cricket at the end of the current season marks the end of an ignominious era in English cricket, an era typified by poor selection decisions and shameful handling of players. It’s highly pitiable that Hick, the man who could have easily been one of the world’s greatest batsmen lacked the adequate support from the backroom staff that his truly precocious talent more than deserved. It is not child’s play to plunder more than forty thousand runs in first class cricket, but that’s exactly what Hick made it look like. On his day, and it seemed like everyday was his, he made attacks look ordinary as he plundered one boundary after another. Hick was a monster of a batsman in the county circuit, but sadly for him and England he couldn’t replicate the same kind of form in the international circuit. I am of the opinion that the weight of expectations placed on him and the manner in which he was handled by the selectors are the prime causes for his failure at the highest level.

For all his malfunctions in the test arena, I still believe Hick had a lot to offer in ODIs, even well into the new millennium, a consideration which sadly never dawned on the English selectors. Hick’s average of 37.33 from 120 ODIs is better than the likes of Adam Gilchrist, Steve Waugh, Yuvraj Singh, Herschelle Gibbs and Mohammed Azharuddin to name a few, all of whom were/are fine ODI batsmen. Hick also possessed bucket like hands which helped him take catches in the slips with consummate ease earning plaudits from Graham Gooch who described him as one of the best slip catchers of all time. Steve Waugh is of the opinion that Hick is “as talented as any other player he had come across” and Shane Warne believes that Hick is “purely and simply a quality player”. Unfortunately for English cricket supporters, Hick’s inability to overcome the uncertainties thrust upon him by the selectors ensured that he was never quite able to showcase his phenomenal abilities at the very highest level.