Liverpool slips down further

Sunderland vs Liverpool ( 17 Oct 2009)

Liverpool slipped further down the table in the Barclays Premier League this weekend. After consecutive losses, one to Fiorentina in the Champions League and the other one to Chelsea in EPL, Liverpool didn't look confident at all. Their weekend game was with Sunderland at 'The stadium of Light'. With Gerrard and Torres injured Liverpool's spine looked weak.

Sunderland (nick-named Black Cats) started off the first half quite impressively, Darren Bent drilling the ball past the Liverpool goalie, to give the Black Cats an early advantage in the game. The Liverpool goalkeeper had only himself to blame. The ball actually deflected off a balloon,completely taking Reina off guard and deceiving him. Reina should have busted the balloon before the start of the game but he didn't and Liverpool eventually paid for that mistake.

The Black Cats were the better team in the first half. They showed a lot of courage to take on one of the big four teams. The confidence exhibited by them and the aggression shown clearly proved that they were in no mood to let Liverpool snatch away points from them in their home soil. Liverpool's performance lacked the fire needed to come back from behind. Rafa had gone in with 3 centre backs ( Carragher,Skrtel and Agger),which back fired on him. Kuyt worked hard but without support from the midfield was found chasing the ball almost all the time. Babel and Benayoun, the only playmakers in the squad that took on the Black Cats weren't 100% effective with their tricks. The Sunderland defense on the other hand was strong, tactful and showed the determination to keep Liverpool at bay. Cattermole, Reid, McCartney and Malbranque were particularly impressive in their performance against Liverpool.

The second half was no better for Liverpool. They struggled to find the elusive equaliser, though they played a much better game in the second half. Liverpool attacked up front and had plenty of ball possession but couldn't find the back of the net. Things didn't change for Rafa even when he brought in Voronin, to supplement Kuyt and Babel. Sunderland's strategy to hold on Liverpool worked well and they never over did things. At the same time Sunderland didn't sit back and allow Liverpool to bombard them. The Black Cats got ample opportunities to write off Liverpool completely by scoring a second and even a probable third goal but Reina good goalkeeping kept Sunderland at the slender one goal lead.

It is sad that Liverpool couldn't capitalize on Chelsea's loss to Aston Villa earlier in the day and inch closer to them. Liverpool now sit 8th in the table below Sunderland and 7 points behind league leaders ManU. Liverpool needs to get some good players in the January transfer window, so that they don't lose matches when Gerrard and Torres are not playing. Summer buy Aquilani if completely fit could turn the tides in Liverpool's favour. Unless there is some ramp up in Liverpool's strategy the Barclays English Premier League Title could elude them yet for another year.

INDIA'S PUBLIC ROAD TRANSPORT

Public transport in India is largely viewed as poor man's way of travelling from one place to another. Every person wants to own his own vehicle for some reason or the other,some for the ease of travelling at will,some for the sake of pride and others just for pure fun. What  one does not understand is that we are a country of 1 billion people and just the thought of 1 billion vehicles on roads brings the worst fears to minds viz choked roads and streets,crowded parking lots and longer traffic jams.

Public transport if improved could solve many problems wrt vehicular traffic and vehicle management. For public transport to improve we must build our road infrastructure first. Clever design of urban landscape could alleviate most of the traffic problems faced by Indian cities. In short investing and planning out road infrastructure is the first prerequisite for a dedicated and neat public road transport system.

Imagine a city where the main arterial roads have lanes dedicated solely for buses, increased frequency of buses in almost all the routes, good and comfortable buses for the public to travel leisurely and last but the least cheap and affordable public transport. Now tell me who wouldn't want to travel by buses if the above said ideal conditions prevailed. Having dedicated bus lanes ( that means no cars and other vehicles in the bus lanes even when the lanes are empty) would mean that buses wouldn't get stuck in traffic jams, smooth flowing of buses to respective destinations and more importantly increased rider comfort. Only when the public feels comfortable and has an enjoyable experience while travelling in a public transport vehicle,would they continue using that service. In fact increased public transport comfort could lead to more ridership and in turn more revenues for the government.

A host of other services could also contribute to increased public transport ridership viz world class bus stops, which has facilities like real time information about when would the particular bus arrive, automatic ticket vending machine-so that tickets can be bought before boarding itself and one needn't wade through the crowd to get to the conductor to purchase the ticket, telephone booth, a kiosk for nitty gritty things and other services. Designing roads to ensure that every passenger reaches his/her destination or at least close to his destination in less time would lead to increased ridership.

Delhi government has ordered buses from India's top two leading commercial vehicle manufacturers to make public transport a real success. These buses are being made with the highest quality,with features and amenities compared to that of the buses plying in Europe and other developed nations. Delhi is all set for its first set of world class buses.

Under the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission) various state transport units have been allocated funds to purchase buses of whatever kind they feel is most suitable for their city. This is a massive step by the central government to reduce the congestion of vehicles on its roads and would go a long way giving public transport a phenomenal boost. India is slowly being referred to as one of the world super powers but she is still a growing economy. This being so, many of world's leading automobile manufacturers and targeting India with their products,which includes cars,scooters,bikes,trucks and even buses. On one hand this would boost the Indian economy but on the other hand this would mean more vehicles on the road and that means more congestion.

Thus public transport will no doubt be the future of every city but only when infrastructure is simultaneously developed to supplement it. Also interconnectivity between road,rail and water public transport would only add to increased use of public transport by the masses. This would mean that people would use their personal vehicles only when urgently needed, therby reducing congestion on roads and helping their cities to be cleaner and greener.