Goals wins you matches and accolades!

Last night world witnessed Lionel Messi lift his fifth Fifa ballon d'or trophy beating CR7 by a  huge margin (41% to 28%). We all clapped sang his praises on our whats app groups and twitter handles and its done and dusted for another 8-9 months at least. But do only goals win you awards on these glittery night? What about the defenders,holding midfielders and the valiant goalkeepers? Are their contributions inferior?

Ok lemme tell you an interesting fact. Last defender to lift Ballon d'or trophy was Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 which was 10 years back. No this was not what i was talking about, the astounding fact - he is the only defender to ever win this award in the entire it's existence. Boom! Besides him only 1 goal keeper had won it that too in 1964. Are we going too single minded while praising the good work? Why is that everyone thinks about goals and not clean sheets while determining the greatness of a player? I prefer playing as an all out attacker when i play on field but i have massive respect for the players who play at the back or you can say i am fond of what defenders do. I can make a mistake and get away with it easily but when they make a mistake its game over. Lets take a simple example we all remember the Gerrard slip which took title away from them but do we ever talk about the clear cut chances that suarez missed in that match?

Following is the list of the final 23 who were in race for the award

Keepers- Thibaut Courtois, Manuel Neuer

Defenders- Philipp Lahm, Javier Mascherano, Sergio Ramos

Midfielders- Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mario Gotze, Angel di Maria, Toni Kroos, Eden Hazard, Lionel Messi, Arjen Robben, James Rodriguez, Paul Pogba, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Yaya Toure, Neymar, Andres Iniesta

Strikers- Karim Benzema, Diego Costa, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thomas Muller

Lemme classify it furthur and make my point clearer-

Goal getters- 16

Goal restrictors- 7

and final three all goal getters.

The mismatch doesn't end here lets come to the transfer market. Highest fee ever paid for a defender £50 million for David Luis by PSG (and Suarez nut megged him there (; ) , highest fee paid £86 million for Gareth Bale by Real Madrid. Wages might revel another heart breaking story. I don't know since when this distinction is going but I do know when can we end this. Today! So lets keep our game Beautiful not only goalful.

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Whose gonna take it home

Leicester City have got that special something !

Ever since returning to the first flight English football, Leicester City F.C. has shown something that has been lacking in the premier league for a long time now. Something that premier league flaunted during the Arsenal's unbeaten season , Manchester United treble winning season, Liverpool conquering Europe and the time when the UCL final was played between two English teams. EPL boasted of being the best football league in the world because it had something, something which was the accurate mixture of beautiful football, strategy, desire to win, taking risks, youth development and marquee signings, and most importantly respect for the amazing sport itself.

In recent times we saw Chelsea winning the old prestigious UCL trophy but by deploying extremely defensive tactics, Manchester City getting taste of some success in league just by spending money, Arsenal sticking to the concept of beautiful football but unable to make an impact, Manchester United completely lost the plot after the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. Something was missing.

Jumping  into  the scene: 21 September 2014, Leicester City F.C. went on to produce one of the greatest comebacks in Premier League history to beat Manchester United 5–3 at the King Power Stadium after coming back from 3–1 down with 30 minutes left to score four goals. They also made Premier League history by becoming the first team to beat United from a two-goal deficit since its launch in 1992.The club made an exceptional start to the season 2015-2-16. Striker Jamie Vardy scored 13 goals over 11 consecutive games from August to November, breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy's Premier League record of scoring in 10 consecutive games. By 5 December 2015, they were two points clear at the top of the Premier League and were the Premier League's leading goalscorers. On 14 December, Leicester defeated defending champions Chelsea 2-1 at the King Power Stadium, with goals from Vardy and Riyad Mahrez. On 19 December, Mahrez scored two penalties as Leicester defeated Everton 2-3 away at Goodison Park. These were Mahrez's 12th and 13th league goals of the season, and the result meant Leicester would top the Premier League on Christmas Day.

On 30th December LCFC played EPL giant Manchester City. Scores were level at 0-0. Then at 70 minutes mark they brought in Ulloa (forward) in place of Drinkwater (midfielder), going for 3 points instead of 1. How many of us can think that? A team that was promoted last season went on to lock horns with the mighty Manchester Ctiy. This was "something". The desire to win with the courage of taking risks. Playing the amazing game as if there's nothing to loose. Giving 100 percent to every game. Ain't this something ?

I think that's how EPL teams are supposed to play and it was missed in past few years. No matter at what position LCFC finish, they have got my respect and of millions more across the globe.
So what's next for them ? Is it Europe calling for LCFC ?

Is Ozil the best, Arsenal have had?

With his epic form this season and 15 assists in 17 games already, Arsenal have really found a playmaker they can rely on heavily even in the absence of the wonderful Cazorla and Speedy Sanchez. With the vision Mesut have it’s almost certain that he will find his teammates. His selflessness and his vision to make a perfect pass have benefitted heavily for the Arsenal team this season.

Arsenal defender Per Mertsacker and other teammates believe Mesut Ozil will be the key to Arsenal’s run for the Premier league title this term. Ozil was instrumental in Arsenal’s 2-1 victory over Manchester City on Monday, assisting both the goals scored by Walcott and Giroud.

The number of assists Ozil have this season are already double than the next best of Riyad Mahrez and Gerard Deulofeu(7). He is definitely on track to break Arsenal’s all time record of assists (20) set by striker Thierry Henry and Arsenal’s hopes of winning the title after a decade heavily depends on him.

He is definitely the best Arsenal have had.

#COYG