Season woes

Our season is over and one to forget. It's time for Kenny to step back. He is a Liverpool legend, one of the greatest to have ever worn the Liverpool shirt. But it is time to step down and get a real manager on-board. Kenny is an awesome man-manager but he just doesn't have it in him anymore to pick the right team. On more than a few occasions this season, he has shown his preference for players who don't deserve to be above others in the pecking order. Time and again, he has proved that he has lacked the tactics to make the right call and pick the right players.

Today's FA Cup Final was a prime example. Kenny left out 3 players who are in-form. Carroll, Maxi and Kuyt and he started with Jordan and Spearing in midfield. What an absolutely pathetic call! Spearing, for all his industry and hard work, is at best an average player. Zilch creative qualities, the least you would expect him to be is a solid defensive midfielder, which he isn't. The first Chelsea goal was his mistake to begin with and to some extent the second one too. Jordan Henderson might be one for the future but he definitely isn't quite ready yet. I am stopping just short of saying he was awful today. Kenny starts these two in midfield with Maxi, Kuyt and Shelvey on the bench. Ridiculous!! I knew the moment Lucas got that horrific injury, we were going to miss him badly. As has been rightly proven, he is currently irreplaceable.

Offense. The entire season Kenny starts Carroll who was out of form then when he should have been starting Suarez and Bellamy (who was in brilliant form) and now when Carroll is finally hitting his stride, he is benched. It doesn't need too much tactical awareness to see these glaring mistakes. I want to re-emphasize that I have massive, massive respect and admiration for Kenny Dalglish. It isn't about that. It is about Liverpool Football Club. We might stick with him for the next season because we back our managers and support continuity but I don't think Kenny was meant to be our permanent manager anyways. He was brought in to steady the ship which he did brilliantly well. But for all the reasons above, I don't believe he is the one to move the club forward. I would love for Kenny to step up into the boardroom or our Academy but please o please, it's time to give a real manager the seat.

I always thought Carroll had it in him to come back. Forget about the money paid for him, that was not his fault (I would put that fault completely on Torres' last day transfer request which forced us to get in a replacement). Plus given his age (22), I think he will come good and is already showing signs. Carroll was/is never meant to replace Torres but to bring his own physical presence and heading abilities to the team. We have the brilliant Suarez to do the nutmegs. But having said that, who is our 3rd striker? Most top teams have 4 if not 5 strikers and we have only 2 established ones. How on earth are we buying midfielder after midfielder without filling up our striking department?  Kenny talks about the amount of times we have hit the woodwork this season which, even though has been unlucky, just goes to tell the story that if you don't buy strikers, you won't get goals but just a lot of attempts. Which is what has happened.

This has been a season to get a team together and gel so I don't have any complaints about that. But we need to rectify our mistakes (we have made glaring ones) and move forward. I am not expecting a big summer for us but what we do in terms of bringing players this summer will go a long way in determining which Liverpool we'll see in the coming seasons. One negative I am already foreseeing because of Kenny's bad tactics is the departure of Maxi and Kuyt (and they are more than justified to feel underused).

YNWA!

Today I was outpaced by a guy. He is probably 5-6 years younger but I didn't like it. What was worse was that he wore a Man U jersey. What followed was that guy was marked by me for the next 40 minutes till he began to tire. I know this guy is faster than me. Challenge accepted.

I cannot be second to anyone in football. At least when it comes to being a striker. I haven't had this much fun in a long time.

After a really long time, I have found a strike partner who operates at the same wavelength as me. Not that I never enjoyed football, but it's gotten that much more sweeter playing with a player of a very good caliber.

I just scored a goal that was a perfect 1-2 with my strike partner. Such a high! I am hoping to get him into my club at the denver league. I am pretty confident he will be a success there too.

Marathi Manus Speaketh - Continued...

Madhya Pradesh: Skip

Rajasthan: I hear it's a colorful state. Ashish talks highly about something (which I forget now). Sonal too. So palaces, culture and sand-duning (if there is one). After that burn it down.

Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Bihar: No, thank you very much.

Punjab-Haryana: Apart from the obvious choices such as the Golden Temple, Wagha Border etc. I would like to visit these states just for the people and their food. Apart from Goans, these guys are the masters of living life King-size (or Queen-size depending on who you are). By that, I don't just mean a lavish lifestyle but just the zest these guys bring to living life. Not to mention their food; dal makhani, rajmah, chana bhatoora, sarso da saag te makki di roti, lassi aaah! Salivation types de happening. So a definite must go.

Delhi-Uttar Pradesh: The only reason for lumping these two together is for simplicity. I mean for the longest time I thought Noida came under Delhi suburbs (which it still might) but only a few years back was I made aware that Noida comes in Uttar Pradesh (Delhi being a Union Territory). So all that technical correctness put aside, Delhi will be properly visited for its history. Red Fort, Jama Masjid and the Qutab Minar to name a few. Also I think Agra (Taj Mahal) is in UP but tends to be lumped in with a Delhi visit. And yes I am one of those Indians who hasn't done Taj Mahal yet (shame on me) but it iz baat it iz (and will be corrected). You would think that Delhi would have such a confluence of cultures given the fact that city (alongwith Jerusalem) might just be the most invaded (and inhabited) city in human history. The food there for obvious reasons, is to die for. When it comes to UP, you hear of such places as Mirzapur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Meerut and you got to think that there must be so much history (and with history comes culture and food) associated with these places. I can't help but think you got to be there to experience it.

Himachal Pradesh and J&K: I don't think I need to write anything to convince myself why I need to go there. Those places speak for themselves. Enough said.

West Bengal & the North East: West Bengal for especially their sweets and seafood (different variance of what I've grown up to). North East for a different kind of beauty that I have heard a lot from my army-bred friends.

So that's it. I am very fortunate to be born in such a diverse country but extremely unfortunate not to have done at least a reasonable amount of this magnificent country by now. I have done quite a bit of North America and am quite happy with what I have done but it's not quite like experiencing India. I have this feeling that India will take my breath away.

Mom. Take a bow.

"Happy Birthday Son
  You are loved for:
              The little boy you were,
              The special man you are now,
              The precious son you will always be "

That's the best gift I have ever got.

I wish Dave comes back to the Red Rocks. I sincerely hope my first visit to a concert at Red Rocks is a Dave Mathews show than anything else.

Dancing Nancies

Dave and Red Rocks seems so much meant to be together.

P.S: I do remember I still need to finish the previous post. I will, I will. I piramise.

Marathi Manus Speaketh

On countless occasions, I have written about my love for Pune. For those not in the know, its this city situated very close to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) on the western side of India. I've grown up in that side of the country and that remains the place I identify with the most. Having said that, the biggest regret I have is the fact that I haven't experienced India at all. Perhaps a little bit of Bangalore and Goa and a visit to Kerala, but that's about all I've experienced/known about my country (Delhi doesn't count cos I was there only for a few hours). Pretty shameful I know and I would like to correct that one day. I am thinking about what I would like to start off with if and when I do plan it out.

I would really start with North India but just for the sake of completeness, I'll traverse from South to North.

Tamil Nadu: I have heard it's really hot out there. Not just hot, but crazy humid as well. I typically don't tend to do too well in such conditions and also given the fact that the people there mostly speak in Tamil, that makes it a rather unattractive proposition for me. I mean don't get me wrong, I don't want to get into this whole "Why only Tamil, why not Hindi?" argument, it's their choice, to each their own but that fact really would restrict my ability to communicate with the folks there. Also I have seen that Tamilians tend to get Malayalam easily, the reverse is not always true. Not that I am claiming to know good Malayalam but I can get by. Tamil is a whole another language. Almost seems too crude and crass to me. So unless there is something worthwhile to see/do in  that state that I might have unknowingly missed and also is worth going inspite of the hurdles mentioned above, I'll most probably give this state a miss. So, me going to Chennai on work sometime in May, doesn't really count. It'll just be work and I'll be flying out of there.

Kerala: It's God's own country, right! And also where my ancestors came from. Don't have the latter connection that much to make a trip, but would definitely like to experience this state. Almost all of my close friends (and non-Keralites) have seen it, and it's kinda embarrassing to think that it's something I haven't. I did, however, go there, once in my life, when I was 12-13, but that really doesn't qualify as experiencing that state. I could probably mention a dozen names of places that's worth visiting so yeah, this state will definitely be done.

Karnataka: Experienced Bangalore. Experienced Masinagudi (hope I got the spelling right). Experienced Ooty. Enough, no? Or am I missing something? Hubli, Belgaum and all that? If not, I am thinking of giving this state a miss too.

Goa: Covered. Unanimously. And will be covered again and again and again. Because.

Andhra Pradesh: Would like to do Hyderabad but then that's about it. Unless of course I am missing something important again.

Gujarat: I will be experiencing this state pretty soon. So can fairly confidently say, this state will be crossed off my list.

Orissa: I happen to know one really cool person from Orissa and that's about all I know about that state. So unless Jesus Himself comes and tells me otherwise, I am definitely giving this state a vehemant miss.

The rest of the states from mid to North will be covered in my next post. Too bored to write any further right now...

P.S: So Ashish, you on-board, right?