Ok! Let’s update ourselves of the goings on…

Super Champions

Behind the events was the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup, and Mourinho famously pulled the strings again to secure his first win of the season. The game that ended 2-1 in favour of Real Madrid saw the league Champions lift the super cup trophy as they were at advantage, courtesy the two away goals they scored in Nou Camp. Goals from Ronaldo and Higuain made sure that the team lifts its first trophy of the season, getting an edge over their arch rivals. The game saw the introduction of the two newbies in both teams. While Barca introduced Song, Madrid also gave Modric a run out in the closing mins of the game. It was a sight to behold as Modric lifted his first trophy just barely 40 hours after he joined the Spanish side.

In other hot stories, the transfer deadline day also coincided with the Uefa Super Cup which was between Chelsea (Champion League winners) and Atletico Madrid (Europa Cup winners). Now, it’s difficult to tell which was more captivating; because as an Arsenal fan, I mourned throughout the day till the last minute of the transfer window, as my team failed to sign any player, despite Wenger’s promise of bringing one or two new faces. My cries and that of millions of Arsenal fans all over twitter fell on deaf ears. We watched painfully as our rivals Tottenham recruited the services of Dembele, Demsey, Hugo Lloris…amongst others. Below are some major moves made:

Berbatov (Man U-Fulham)

Charlie Adams (Liverpool-Stoke)

Adam Johnson/Danny Rose (Tottenham-Sunderland)

Yossi Benayoun (Chelsea- West ham)

Andy Carroll (Liverpool-West ham)

Maicon (Inter Milan-Man City)

Scott Sinclair (Swansea- Man City)

Michael Essien (Chelsea-Real Madrid)

Then after the close of the English transfer window, some other major deals that went through were:

Raul Merieles (Chelsea-Fernabache)

Hulk (Porto-Zenith St. Petersburg)

Michael Owen (Man U-Stoke)

We must not also forget that QPR were so active in the transfer market that they recruited an astonishing 12 players (a full team and one extra player). The players included the likes of Park Ji Sung, Fabio, Estaban Granero, Julio Ceasar, Bosingwa, Robert Green and many others. Ok, amidst all these movements, Arsenal were quiet, after their earlier aquisation of Carzola, Giroud and Podolski.

Falcao Falls Chelsea

Moving over to the Uefa Supercup, Falcao’s hatrick shredded Chelsea’s defence as they won convincingly with a 4-1 score line. Cahill got the consolation goal for Chelsea. I knew that if it weren’t too late, Abramovic would have bought Falcao that night. The Chelsea team looked like a reserve side with the absence of their inspirational captain, John Terry. The defence was easily ripped apart, and the attacking prowess of the midfield was found wanting. Hazard and Torres could not deliver the team when it mattered most….and that reminds me of Mata whose crickety runs were useless in the encounter.

Pol celebrates first arsenal goal

That slides us to the weekend of EPL matches. Arsenal’s coach stunned most doubters by putting out a team that produced a world class performance in a 2-0 win over Liverpool at ANFIELD. It was same team and venue, were the defending Champions struggled and were happy to get a 2-2 draw just a week earlier. Podolski opened the scoring as another new signing Saniti carzola doubled the lead at second half. Arsenal were in total control of the game which saw long-term-injury returnee, Diaby, turnout a man-of-the-match performance. It must also be recognised that the gunners are yet to concede a goal this season- after three games; at this time last season they had conceded an amazing 10 goals which included the famous 8-2 drubbing by Man U.

In other results, Man city comfortably brushed aside QPR with a 3-1 score line as Tevez, Yaya Toura and Dzeko found their names on the score sheet. Everton suffer their first defeat of the season in the hands of Westbrom in a match that ended 2-0. Tottenham coach AVB, has still failed to deliver a win this season, undermining his transfer exploits. An 85^th min goal cancelled Dembele’s debut goal, to end the game 1-1. I said it earlier that AVB and Rogers are going to struggle to fit into their new jobs this season. The reason is simple- the shoes they are filling are looking too big for their experience. Time will tell how long they’ll last.

Hat trick Hero

The scare of the weekend would have been Sir Alex Ferguson’s 1000^th league match in charge at United, which was against newly promoted Southampton. The match should have been an easy ride in the park for the Red Devils, but the Saints had different plans. As at 86 mins Southampton were leading 2-1, and it took a Van Persie’s hatrick (two goal in the last three mins) to secure a hard-fought victory for the 19-times EPL Champions. That game would have been Van Persie first experience of Fergie’s hair-dryer system, as the Dutchman toyed with a penalty that could have made them even earlier in the match. He tried to chip the ball like he did last season against Wolves, but this time it failed as the keeper parried the ball. This result also revealed that Sir may have given too much attention to his attacking positions to the detriment of his midfield and defence, as these departments were found wanting in the course of the game

On to Spain, Barca secured a controversial 1-0 win against Valencia with a stunning goal from Adriano. Valencia seemed to have had an equaliser, but was ruled offside by the assistant referee. This leaves Barca sitting comfortably at the top of the table with 9 points out of three games.

On the other side, Real Madrid secured their first league win in the match against Grenada; the game ended 3-0 and saw Ronaldo score twice. But at the end of the match, Ronaldo who did not celebrate either of his goals dropped one of the season’s controversial issues by stating that he is not happy, and that the club are aware of the cause of his sadness.

This has left pundits scrambling for reasons why the Portuguese will be sad at Madrid. Some speculated that he is angling for a more lucrative deal; others said he was sad ‘cause he hasn’t received enough support from Madrid in his race to win the Ballon d’or, as Cassilas has been given more thumbs up; still others proffered that he is unhappy because of the increase in his tax rate over the last few months; while another school postulated that he is sad because of the way Calvarho and Kaka has been side-lined from the team. Overall, if you ask me, Ronaldo is just been unnecessarily dramatic. He has no reason to be sad and come out publicly to pronounce it. Since he said it was a professional issue, he should have handled it more professionally-behind closed doors. I wonder how much he wants to achieve with this approach. We are waiting

Waoh….another loooonnnnng post. Never meant to…I hope we’ll make it shorter next time.*broad smiles*