First post of the new year… many more to come. Starting with a post about my new year resolutions. That’s coming up in a bit.

Day 1 of MMXI.

That “head in the clouds, walking on sunshine” feeling was short lived, and many of us came crashing down to terra firma on that ill fated day in August. A team that goes by the name of Young Boys, and who plays on an artificial turf raced to a 3-0 lead before half time. And, that’s when they started the “We told you so” chants.

Who’s “THEY”?  They is them lot .. the haters, bitters, and non believers.

They laughed when Young Boys got a 3 goal lead. But what they didn’t know is that a football game lasts for 90 minutes.

They laughed. Spurs got beat by Young Boys. “Y’all have no business playin’ the Champions League”, they said.

They didn’t notice the final score line. 3 in twenty minutes, but 3-2 at full time. Two away goals. No, they didn’t notice.

The 4-0 mauling of the ‘Boys’ at the Lane went unnoticed. “Young Boys? Who are they anyway?”.

They laughed when we let go a 2 goal lead to draw against Werder Bremen, in Bremen. That’s 2 away goals again. They made a big issue of Werder missing key players due to injury. But, didn’t we miss Defoe, Dawson, King, van der Vaart (for some games)? Who cares about injuries to Spurs players, huh? Bremen were unlucky. They have too many injuries. Poor babies. If they’d had all their players fit, Spurs wouldn’t have scored 2 goals.

They laughed again, and this time the hardest, when Inter went 4-0 up at half time. They didn’t see the Bale monster tormenting their right back, and the 3 goals (away goals no less!) in the second half. Inter switched off, they said. Switched off or not. A football game lasts 90 minutes, doesn’t it? That proved Inter were stupid enough to sit on a 4 goal lead and let Spurs attack and decimate them. Inter, the team managed by Benitez, whose ex-team had come back from a 3 goal deficit to win the Champions league some years ago. Really, you can’t be that stupid. Or, maybe?

But, still they laughed. Kept laughing.

The home wins over Inter, Bremen and Twente were because Spurs got lucky, because the referees sided with them, and because the opponents were missing their key players. No, Spurs did not play that great. They don’t belong here, in the Champions League.

They had another go at the laughing, when Twente came back thrice to draw 3-3.

Guess who’s laughing now? You lot, or us lot?

Into the knock out stages of the Champions League, and moved there in style. 18 goals scored, and conceded as many. But group winners. The so called ‘tough’ group. Still laughing, you trolls?

They said Spurs don’t deserve to be in the Champions League. Spurs will get thrashed in the qualifiers.

Then they said, Spurs are in a tough group. There’s no way they’re getting out of it.

Now, they’re saying you lot got lucky. The round of 16 will be your last.

Oh, you keep trolling, and keep laughing. My Spurs will keep proving you guys wrong.

Looking forward to the Last 16 draw. Doesn’t matter who’s drawn against us. This has been a roller coaster of a season so far. And we are lovin’ every minute of it.

I started this project in mid 2010. Actually, it started as a 365 photos challenge at the start of the year. I clicked the first photo of this project on January 1, 2010 and continued clicking one photo per day till mid March. Then I had to abandon this project, mainly due to lack of time, work pressure! And, there was no serious effort on my part to revive the project later when things slowed down at work. Then one rainy Saturday afternoon in July I decided to start all over again.

I had been reading some articles on Digital Photography School website, and saw an interesting article about ways to keep you motivated. So, the abandoned 365 project was out of the deep freeze. Since it was very difficult to keep up with the ‘one photo per day’ schedule, I decided to tweak the project slightly. Time was a major factor that influenced the scrapping of the 365 project. So, this time I decided to go with a safer option. Thus, the 52 weekends project was kick started in July. I created a blog for this project.

This is where I upload the weekly experiments, http://50twophotos.wordpress.com.

I had always shot on weekends. No matter how busy or stressed out my work week was. Weekend was my time to unwind, experiment with the camera. The 52 photos project seemed doable, and on July 18, 2010 I shot my first picture of the new project. And I haven’t looked back.

This week should have been week 15, but I missed 2 weeks due to many reasons. I’m determined to make up for it. Maybe do a 2 photos per week sometime, and get back on track. 13 weeks, and counting! I have covered one fourth of the journey, and I still have a long way to go.

What I’ve been doing been doing? In these 13 weeks, I have learned a lot about my camera, stuff I didn’t know, and about photography in general. I bought my camera (Canon 1000D) in March 2009, but I have yet to figure out all the knobs and controls on that beast. I attended two photo-walks, but didn’t quite enjoy the experience. Street photography isn’t my cup of tea. More on street photography later.  I also started reading about the various PP software, specifically about GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). And after 13 weeks, I think I’ve improved a lot. My photos are better that they were at the start of the year. I’m still learning, still a long way to go. And, as they say “Well begun is half done”. Quarter done, in my case.

That’s my quarterly progress report. A little pat on my back for the effort. Till the next quarter, keep visiting the 52 photos project blog.

See you on week 26.

So, what went wrong? Whatever happened to the team that finished 4^th last season, and was supposed to give the Chelseas, and Man Utds of the world a run for their money? A team that’s filled with midfield maestros. What happened?

The Carling cup defeat was swallowed with a pinch of salt. Easy to dismiss that loss as “Hey, we’re now a champions league team. Couldn’t be bothered with the Carling cup. Could we?”

Yesterday, something happened. Something that even the most bitter of Tottenham haters wouldn’t have predicted. The team that’s playing in the champions league, one that boasts of players like Robbie Keane on their bench, lost to a team that’s sitting royally in the 20^th and last place in the Premier league table.

What went wrong? What excuses this time, ‘Arry? Handing out favours to ex-teams, are we?

Let’s analyse the team selection..

Keeper Cudicini, deputising for the injured Gomes.  He isn’t that bad, for a No2 keeper. But that’s it. Nothing more. Doesn’t inspire confidence. Let’s face it.. he’s a good keeper, but nowhere near Gomes’ level. Sounds strange, but just the presence of Gomes in the goal is a peaceful sight.

Back 4? Totally unbelievable selection!

Bale at Left back? That kid is a monster on the left wing, but when pushed back to defend, he’s better off left on the bench. Have someone defend the left side, not Bale. He’s born to boss the left wing.

But, Bale’s position at LB yesterday was understandable. Assou-Ekotto, the only other left back in the team was carrying a knock, and had to be kept fit for the midweek Champions league encounter.

Corluka at Center back? Are you kidding me!?

What happened to Steven Caulker? That boy, Caulker, who had such an impressive debut against the old enemy in the Carling cup. If you dismiss that penalty he gave away in extra time, Caulker’s game was good. He looks calm at the back. Yes, Ledley mark2.

After the Carling cup game, Harry had heaped praise on the young lad, calling him an appropriate successor to Ledley. Well, if he’s so damn talented, why wasn’t he in the team? Should have been on the bench at least, if not the starting XI. Anyway, he’s going to Bristol City on a season long loan now. Good for him. At least he’ll get regular playing time.

Bassong, on the other hand had an okay-ish game. He’s good on his day, that lad. Potential? Yes! But he’s like the pre-2008 Dawson. He’ll be a great partner at center back only if he has someone experienced alongside him, either King, Dawson or Gallas. Left to himself, like yesterday, he’s completely clueless. Sounds like the old Dawson, doesn’t it? Having Corluka beside him must have messed up his head big time.

The midfielders, except Van der Vaart, and to some extent, Modric, were all pathetic. Jenas tried hard, but he was bossed around in the midfield. And when a team lying in the 20^th place does that to you, it’s bad.

Tommy Huddlestone, the captain for the day! God, why him? Captaincy and Huddlestone do not go together. He was out of sorts too. Lennon is still having a nightmare. He needs to get back his pre-injury form. ASAP!

Another big mystery is why Peter Crouch starts every single game? That leaves two very frustrated strikers, Keane and Pavyluchenko, on the bench.

What do they have to do, to get in the team?

And, 4-5-1 in the premier league? It’s not a frigging Champions league game! Should have started with the good old 4-4-2.

The premier league is a 38 game season, and some blips are expected along the way. But what has happened since the start of this season falls under the ‘Not happening’ category. Spurs have had one too many blips, and the season’s just getting started.

Just 6 games into the season.. not the time for knee jerk reactions. But the blips have to stop. Time to get out of the rut, and play like a top 4 team.

Champions league feels great.. mid week European games, and all that money flowing in. But shouldn’t we be focussing more on the Premier league, maintaining our place in the top 4?

Though it was a 1-0 loss, it seems like a hammering.

But a quick glance at the other third round results eased the pain.

MENTAL – That’s the only word to describe most of the results.

Here’s why,

Chelsea LOST to Newcastle

Liverpool LOST to Northampton (on penalties)

Manchester City LOST to West Brom

Everton LOST to Brentford (on penalties)

Bolton LOST to Burnley

Mental, or what?

Disclaimer: This is not a dig at Spain or Germany. I like the German team. Spain, no, I’m not a big fan. But they’ve got some fantastic talents. So, fans of either team, I’m not laughing at you or your team.

This is just a lame attempt at humour.

Alright, so why did Germany lose. They were awesome in the earlier games, scoring 4 each against England and Argentina in the knockouts, and another 4 against Australia in the group stages. Ok, they lost to Serbia, but that was a minor blip.

So, what happened in the semi final? Why couldn’t ze Germans play the beautiful game they were playing prior to the semi final?

Let’s try to get to the bottom of this mystery. There could be many reasons why they didn’t win.

One – Their most famous cheer leader was banned from attending the semi final.

Two – Thomas Muller was missing, having picked up two yellows. Is one player so very important to a team that his absence caused them to fold up? Maybe. Maybe not.

Three – Maybe Loew got his calculations wrong. They depended too much on the counter attacks, but with Spain hogging all ball possession, there was no escape route for a counter.

Four – Joachim Loew forgot his lucky sweater.

Five  – And I think this is the real reason why Germany lost. Spain bored them to death with their short passes, and ball possession.

Look, here’s how Spain play. Let’s say they have a goal kick. The ball begins its travel this way

Casillas passes to Puyol, who passes it to Busquets. Busquets passes it to Alonso and from Alonso it goes to Ramos, who passes it to Xavi. Xavi makes a couple of step overs, and then passes it to Iniesta. Now, Iniesta being a Barca player has to show some fancy step overs, and back heels. So, he does exactly that and passes the ball to Capdevilla, who immediately passes it to Torres. Torres, since he’s out of touch, gives it to Villa. Phew!

Ok, now Villa has the ball at his feet, and he takes it to the edge of the box. And instead of shooting at the goal, he passes it back to Xavi, who then passes it to Ramos, who passes it to Alonso, and well, you get the idea.

This 10 million passes cycle continues till the 70^th minute. By then the opponents have already started plucking their eyelashes due to extreme boredom, and because they haven’t touched the ball for the past 20 minutes.

So, after about 70 minutes into the game, one of Spain’s players decides to take a dive and get a free kick, or a corner, or if he’s really lucky, a penalty. By then, the opponents are so damn frustrated that they do not realise that they have to defend the set piece, and concede a goal.

So, goal to Spain, and there’s still some 15 odd minutes for the whistle. They start the pass game again. After 90 minutes, the referee signals full time, and Spain yet again get a 1-0 victory!

This, running around in circles, frustrated the German team so much that they kind of gave up at half time, and decided to play in the third place playoff. No more semi finals, no more running after the ball, no more having to watch the short passes.

If you really don’t buy my theory, Just blame Paul

Here’s a graphical representation of Spain’s “beautiful game”

The beautiful game

Dammmmnit!

So far this has been the … umm… boringest world cup ever! Yeah, boringest. I can make up words like that.. it’s my blog afterall

What have we got from the 16 matches so far.. a measly 24 goals! Spain vs Switzerland is still on, so add a couple of goals to the tally. Boring? No. Boringest!!!

The quality of football so far has been so low, and so disappointing, that I’d rather watch a cricket match than watch the stuff dished out by the 32 best teams in the world.

And, yes, the standard of refereeing hasn’t been exactly world class.

Just trying to figure out the reasons for such a pathetic show.

Couple of reasons crop up..

One the heavily criticized Adidas Jabulani ball. The official match ball has been criticised by the players, and by the fans as well. Why? Because it’s too light, swings wildly, difficult to control, and so on. Jabulani means ‘rejoice’ in Zulu, and so far the ball has done everything for the fans to do the opposite.

So is it just the ball that’s taking away the excitement from football?

Or, is it the altitude that’s causing the players to tire out fast? Most of the stadiums where the World cup matches will be played are at a higher altitude. That surely can’t be the reason for a such a disaster, right?

I guess the real deal is the noisy vuvuzelas. Those damned trumpets make such a racket, it sounds like a swarm of bees have invaded the stadium. The noise levels drown out everything, including the ref’s whistle.

I guess the noise is the real distraction. Football matches are supposed to be noisy, with drums, trumpets and drunken fans. But the vuvuzelas are beyond all that. It’s irritating to listen to that on television. Imagine what the players go through, listening to the thousands of trumpets blown at the same time.

There have been plenty of complaints, criticisms against the vuvuzela. Every one, from the players to the referees, to the commentators and even the fans are fed up of the noisy things. The had been talks of banning them, but the FIFA decided against it. It symbolises South African culture. It’s a good thing, wearing your culture on your sleeve. But when it starts to distract the attention from the game, someone has to take a stand.

Let’s have a vuvuzela free match, and then decide if there is any difference in the performance of the teams, and if the quality of football improves.

Of all the matches I’ve seen so far .. and which means ‘all the matches’.. only Germany and Argentina have really impressed.

Brasil lacked their usual flair when they played North Korea last night. They won 2-1, thanks to a wonder, but  fluke, goal and a typical Brasilian link up goal. It was the North Koreans who looked lively in that game. No sign of nerves at all.

Ivory coast vs Portugal was labelled as the cracker game of group G. That was a big time flop. Both teams looked like playing for a draw. Ronaldo was a disappointment. Again. Somehow he isn’t able to replicate his club level performances when he puts on the Portugal shirt. In my opinion he isn’t good as the ex Portugal number 7 who he replaced.

As I write this, Spain have gone down by a goal against Switzerland. Spain .. they are a talented squad, but always the underachievers. I really hope they show the same spark that won them the Euro.

Round 2 starts tonight with the hosts South Africa taking on Uruguay, who by the way played out a lifeless draw in round 1.

I, like millions of football fans around the world, will be praying for better football in Round 2.

So here’s to free flowing football and a less noisy world cup.