Real Madrid has secured another Spanish Championship, Bayern has done the same with the Bundesliga while Inter remains within touching distance of a third consecutive scudetto.
Elsewhere Ligue Une could take an interesting turn this weekend as leaders Lyon are at home to France’s surprise package AS Nancy.
Nancy leaped over Marseilles last weekend and currently occupies the third and final Champions League spot. To grab the final spot Nancy needs to match Marseille's results over the next two games – this weekend at Lyon and after that at home to Rennes.
If it is goals that you are looking for then AS Nancy is not going to be your cup of tea. They have recorded seventeen clean sheets in 36 starts, conceded a miserly twenty-six goals while scoring a parsimonious forty-two goals.
Lyon have recorded a win, a loss and 3 draws in last 5 matches and are dormie two over second place Bordeaux. However, they can take some comfort from their weekend opponents away record this season – only two wins, ten draws and six losses so far.
Lyon finishes with a match against 15th place Auxerre while Laurent Blanc’s Bordeaux faces two bottom half sides in Sochaux and Lens.
The EPL goes into Sunday’s final games with the title, the remaining UEFA Cup spot and two tickets (complete with parachute payments) to the Championship still to be decided. Although Manchester United appears to have the tougher task they also know that they only have to match Chelsea’s result in order to secure back-to-back Premiership titles for the first time since 2001.
Since taking over at the JJB, Steve Bruce has brought some defensive organization and grit to Wigan. With clean sheets in seven of their last eleven games and thirty-two points from Bruce’s 23 games in charge Wigan are enjoying their best run of results since their early splash when they joined the Premiership back in the 2005/06 season.
On the down side Wigan are facing a United side that has a 100% record in five Premiership matches between the the two while scoring 16 goals to Wigan’s three. Strangely all three goals for Wigan have come from defenders. Toss in for good measure that Steve Bruce’s record against Manchester United is nine matches without a win then the league leaders will go into the game with enough good omens to satisfy the most superstitious of fans.
Chelsea are faced with a situation of doing their absolute best but finding out late Sunday afternoon that even that may not be good enough to capture a third Premiership title in four seasons. Theoretically Bolton are still not safe from the spectre of relegation but it requires not only wins for Fulham or Reading but also a huge winning margin combined with Bolton being taken to the Stamford Bridge cleaners.
It is testament to how badly Reading are playing that even a trip to woeful Derby calls into question Reading’s ability to score a goal let alone get three points. Steve Coppell’s side are on the longest current streak in the Premier League without a goal of 6 matches or 551 minutes and need to better Fulham’s result and at least match Birmingham’s if they are to line up in the Premiership in August.
Derby also has a goal (really two goals) going into this game. Derby needs to score two more in order to overtake the Premiership low of 21 in a season set by Sunderland scored five years ago.
Fulham visits FA Cup Finalists Portsmouth with 3 wins in their last four games and last weekend they finally put together back to back wins this season. Fulham are winless at Pompey (2 losses and 2 draws) but appear to have convinced most fans that they can get the win that they need to stay up.
Birmingham is in the most precarious position – the bottom version of Chelsea. They could put in a season-best performance at home to Blackburn but still not beat the drop if other results conspire against them.
Of the nine Premiership matches between these two only one has been decided by more than one goal. Birmingham’s home record (a single home loss since Christmas) has proved to be their flotation device although by the same token the defense has failed to record a clean sheet since the Boxing Day win over Boro.
If Fulham and Reading should both lose then Birmingham could survive with a draw but playing for such an outcome would be a huge gamble.
The North American disease strikes again. The hockey play-offs are on and the great North American tradition of rioting when you win gets underway. Surely this must lead to a European ban for all NHL clubs? If you ask me this is why hockey/baseball/basketball/gridiron football will never catch on in the rest of the world. If you can’t even get your reason for wanton destruction right, how can you ever expect normal thugs and hooligans to relate?
Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are a smidgen away from securing their respective league titles. Lyon are being made to work a bit harder to win their seventh consecutive French title although with four games to go and a four point lead on Bordeaux harder it might be but it looks like pretty inevitable anyway.
It’s possible for Inter to win another scudetto if they win (home to Cagliari) and Roma shockingly lose at home to struggling Torino. Not probable, and even so I’m sure Inter fans would rather wait until the Milan derby to sow another title up. That opportunity comes next weekend.
Which brings us to the Premiership and a match that will see Manchester win another Premiership title (I know Chelsea would still be able to catch United on goal difference but a goal difference of at least 20 makes the task and impossibility) or make the race interesting for at least one more week.
The fact that both teams hold a slight edge in their respective Champions League semi finals and this could be the first of two meeting over the next few weeks only adds more flavour to the pot.
No matter the outcome of this game Manchester United will finish the season atop of the mini league that also includes Saturday’s opponents, Arsenal and Chelsea. Going into the game United have 13 points, Chelsea 7, Arsenal 6 and Liverpool with four draws and no wins. Chelsea also enjoy a very good record over Manchester United in the Premiership and have taken more points off of them than any other side.
The defensive records of both teams this season have been outstanding (United 19 against and Chelsea 24 against) and when you add in the fact that the goals for either team have not been coming as freely in the last few weeks an avalanche of goals seems unlikely.
The Everton vs. Aston Villa match holds a lot of promise with Villa three points a flagging fifth place Everton. Only Manchester United have scored more goals in the Premiership this season than Villa (who would have picked that?) and they have recovered from a truly terrible march to score 15 goals in the last three matches – albeit against three of the cellar dwellers.
Birmingham were Villa’s victims last Sunday and find themselves in the last relegation spot. Birmingham desperately need at least a point this weekend against Liverpool and hope that Spurs do them a favour against Bolton and Reading come a cropper at Wigan. That would leave the Brummies ahead of the other two on goal difference and a run-in that has them face Fulham and Blackburn Rovers.
As chance would have it Birmingham are a bit of a bogey side for Liverpool with the Reds only winning twice in 9 Premiership games. A few years back a Championship Birmingham took Liverpool to penalty kicks before losing in the Carling Cup Final of 2001.
In Italy Fiorentina needs to see off sixth place Sampdoria to maintain at least a four point gap on fifth place Milan and to essentially kill off any reasonable hope that Samp might have of securing the fourth and final Champions League spot. Fiorentina have won their last six at home are playing a side that has a on the face of it a relatively poor away record this season. However, three of Sampdoria’s away wins have come in their last four games and only a surprising 1-0 loss against Reggina a couple of weeks ago brought a solid run to an end.
If Fiorentina can win this one then they will be very much in the driving seat with their remaining fixtures against Cagliari, Parma and Torino. On the other hand Sampdoria need the win to cut into Fiorentina’s lead but then have games against Roma, Palermo and Juventus in prospect.
Finally MLS has the first Los Angeles derby of the season and who is betting that this one will finish with eleven-a-side?
Bobby – The answer was Chivas but for a different reason. The only team in the leagues listed that doesn’t have a part of its name a city, state or nickname of the state.
MasMaz – Please give us your opinion of Fabregas. I have beaten the dead horse in exclaiming that he is a very skilled but limited player. Wenger is making a huge mistake in building his team around him. He was terrible on Saturday. I realize he is young but he shows me nothing of a player who could become a match winner or tempo controller. His crossing, corners and free kicks are the worst in the league. Arsenal is supposed be a top class side yet, corner after corner and free kick after free kick is poor. These are fundamentals. I think Arsenal will miss Eduardo most on corners.
Bobby –If you can’t see what Fabregas brings to the game then it doesn’t matter what I say because it won’t change your mind. He is playing in the most difficult position on the field, he’s not twenty-one yet and he rarely makes a poor decision when he has the ball. However, I see that you are reevaluating!
Henry14 - I think you know l feel Arsenal can win in Milan, historically I do think wins in Europe when you are in an iffy period tend to help in the League and the opposite is not true , as how Arsenal consolidated 4th and got to the final , l think a win in Milan is what the Gunners need right now.
Bobby – Great call.
Zuco2 – The FSR studios are in Winnipeg so you must be living in Winnipeg, right?
Bobby – Correct.
Djnima -My question is, 70 million quid for Lyon? I don't think United would be willing to drop that much dough for the kid. That's Real Madrid and Chelsea money. When Fergie signed Nani and Anderson it was very hush hush. In contrast with Hargreaves he was very vocal. Do you think this is Fergie's way of calling dibs on Benzema? Do you think it will work?
Bobby – I think it was Fergie’s way of hopefully putting Benzema off his game. (I agree with Venti.)
Ringo - Are you interested in the UEFA cup yet? And I can't pick up the Beeb on my telly ,can you help me out?
Bobby – Getting there. Everton – Fiorentina, Spurs – PSV and Rangers – Werder Bremen have me a bit more interested. We get the BBC ……Canada.
Craigy_f -MLS starts in less than a month - what's your take? Do you have any thoughts on the UEFA CUP first leg round of 16? Particularly Fiorentina V EFC, although I'm interested in all the games. 20-30 years ago that many black players on a pitch at Goodison (many of them wearing blue) would have been unheard of/greeted with bananas and BLEEP calls. Happily that sort of malarkey seems to be behind us. What vestiges of racism do you see in the modern day game, fans or pundits (if any)?
Bobby – I think it will take me a month to catch up with who is playing for which MLS team. To be honest I totally switched off at the draft stage. Far too much space and discussion dedicated to a bunch of young players who largely will have little or no impact for a couple of seasons. I can understand it is a fantastic thing for them to be drafted but the coverage is way over the top.
As I said above there are some very good looking ties and if Everton and Fiorentina both take the games seriously – and you would hope at this stage that they would – it will be a great match up and a real contrast.
I was praising Prandelli on Monday and the same goes for Moyes - two managers who have worked at it and learned their trade.
As far as racism is concerned you would have to differentiate between the clear and very obvious types we have seen and heard about in certain European countries and the overt stuff such as why are there not more black managers in the English game? It’s a fight that will never be totally won as far as soccer and society in general are concerned.
Redfan2000 - With all the chat about bad fouls in the press after the Eduardo tackle, do you think there is a marked difference between the English game and the rest? I am wondering if the FA or even UEFA will start to crack down on the players by maybe bringing in the FIFA standards, as used at World Cups, across the board. Would that be good in your opinion?
Bobby – I think that a lot of people mistake physical contact and speed with dirty play. I also go back to a comment I made last week that we don’t often see the really dirty players as they are better at disguising it.
There was also a host of bad fouls from other leagues that illustrated that no one league has a monopoly on awful fouls. The game is much cleaner than it was thirty years ago.
As for FIFA World Cup standards would you be meaning something like this game from the 2006 World Cup?
Craigy_f - You've alluded to the corner kick prowess of Villa and the Blues on the show (and Bolton are still dangerous on set pieces). What makes them so dangerous? The delivery, the organization, the defenders coming up or what? I'll rephrase, can you dissect a good corner kick for us?
442 still seems most popular in the PL (with the odd 451 or 433) In Serie A there is still a lot of 442 but also a fair amount of 433 and 352) - the Pl is filled with 'foreigners' so why do you think the 442 remains so popular and nobody is even trying a 352. This question comes of the article in the latest 442 about the 460 formation and how it could be very dangerous if used correctly.
Bobby – First of all here are some stats as of the end of January. The first number is goals scored from dead balls, the second is the total goals scored. I went back to the 2004/05 season and worked forward to this season. Bolton 20/49, 16/49, 17/47, 7/24; Everton 15/45, 13/34, 17/52, 10/40; Aston Villa 16/45, 8/42, 10/43, 16/43.
As for what makes a team dangerous on set pieces? First off a lot of preparation and practice. A good delivery, movement and trying to isolate the defending sides weak spot to match up with your strength. I was going to add height and strength but that probably helps but is not necessarily decisive. Finally execution – someone who is confident and attacks the area that the ball is played into.
Formations – I’m a bit surprised that Martin O’Neill hasn’t given 3-5-2 a shot as he favoured that set-up when at Celtic. Overall it is probably down to a comfort level with the system. After all it has been around since the mid sixties. I don’t think it is necessarily a case that the system has not changed but I think we are seeing more team use 442 in different ways. United has used two defensive anchors at times this season when there is usually a balance with one attacking midfielder and the other shielding the back four.
Cabby - Almost a perfect day on Sat. - the Dee win in the last minute and Hamilton only 1 minute away from defeat. I used to think you were lousy when i watched you on Fox but when i found out you were a Dundee supporter I now think that you are brilliant - keep up the good work.
Bobby – Thanks for the ringing endorsement. If I am ever looking for an agent I will make sure and try Andy Millman’s first.
Neophyte - Did you see Robinho's performance this weekend? There is a lot of talk on the blog about c. Ronaldo. Yet Robinho is never mentioned in the list of top players. Where do you think he is in his development and do you expect to see him take over the world like his country man (Ronaldinho) did a couple of years ago?
Bobby – Only bits and pieces as the broadcaster could not decide which game they wanted to follow so they opted for neither. Comparatively I don’t think all that much of him to be honest and this stage in his career he would not be on my list of the top ten players in the world. There again I doubt he will lose any sleep over my opinion!
Elliot123 - Based solely on this season's performance to date, who would you select for a Merseyside Top XI?
Bobby – Here goes and light the fireworks. Reina; Jagielka, Carragher, Yobo, Lescott; Gerrard, Mascherano, Cahill, Arteta; Torres, Yakubu.
Jagielka at right back because he seems comfortable anyplace – even in goal. Finnan has been poor and Tony Hibbert has looked a bit off at times. I just can’t pick Phil Neville and Carragher is a terrible full back. If he had not been injured so much I would have expected Agger to be in. Leon Osman is unlucky not to have made the eleven.
Henry 14 - Bobby has a great big egg on his face after Arsenal went through.
Bobby – Nice one coming from someone who at various times has wanted to get rid of half the Arsenal side and wanted Wenger sacked. (Henry14 – all this stuff is archived and can be easily traced to you). I’m amazed that you have not done yourself some serious damage leaping on and off the bandwagon.
Foxcube - Enjoyed your sharp wits and bright insight, but please DO remember to raise questions to Bobby, or he'll feel not needed again like on Feb 24, and we don't want to lose this space.
Bobby – Don’t worry about me. There are more than enough questions buried in the banter.
Ringo - An easy one for you this week. Dundee can win the FA Cup or Tayport can win the Junior cup. Which one do you take?
Bobby – Dundee has a slightly better chance of winning the Scottish Cup this season than Scotland does of winning the European Championship this summer. A trip to Motherwell in the next round might have the making of a wee surprise but the focus of the team must be on promotion back to the SPL.
Tayport drew at home to perennial contender Pollok (viewer discretion is advised) last Saturday and they travel to the west of Scotland for the replay this weekend. The Scottish Junior Cup is a tough nut to crack
Carljamaica - Greetings from Jamaica. Do you think this Manchester United team is as good as people are saying? Do you think they are serious contenders for the Champions League meaning do you think they have what it takes? If not where do you think they are short. Is Ronaldo just going through a purple patch or is he really the real deal? Awaiting your thoughts.
Bobby – Much warmer than where I am! United deserve to be considered as one of the favourites to win the Champions League. They have been given a decent draw (not easy but Lyon are a side that United can beat) but often a bit of good fortune is also needed along the way.
There is still a month to go before the first leg of the first knock out round and things can change very quickly. Injuries, suspensions and key players losing form can all hit at an inopportune moment. In terms of their most significant weakness it is probably a lack of height and power up front.
You can see in some of the league games this season that without that option it gives the opposition one less thing to worry about. Having a big strong forward on the bench that could go on just to mix things up a bit would provide that additional alternative.
Since Ronaldo joined United he has improved every season. If you look back at his play when he joined United in 2003 the raw talent was there for everyone to see. Four and a bit years on and every aspect of his game has improved – some parts by leaps and bounds.
Craigy_f – 1. Was Probert correct to book Arteta? Has a card ever been used in that situation that you are aware of? 2. Does the lack of ACoN on any American network show the ignorance of the American networks as to the value of the tournament in Ghana? 3. Was it omitted for the same reasons that the Asia tournament was omitted? 4. What’s your impression of Lord Coe? 5. What’s your:- Goal of the week, Save of the week, Game of the week, Referee of the moment. 6. Favourite clip from Flash Gordon 7. What was your take on the teams and the result for the USMNT against a Sweden B team? 8. Will you and the boys try some colour this week?
Bobby – 1. It seemed to be a strange decision. The only way that I could see the referee having a valid cause would be if he had told Arteta to wait for the whistle.
2. The value is set by the number of people who would watch the tournament and despite what we think soccer on English language stations in North America do not regularly draw big numbers. A tournament that has games scheduled during the work day is an obvious problem.
3. I don’t know the reason why the Asia tournament was omitted so I can’t answer the question.
4. He used to be a very fast runner and was able to turn left? You can’t hang-out at the upper echelons of global sport without being forced to hold your nose at the goings-on. If you decide to hold true to your principles at that level it means you will have a short and largely ineffective career in the political world of sport.
5. Sully Muntari’s winner against Guinea, can’t think of one, poor weekend nothing stood out, oops the moment just went.
6. The End
7. Meaningless friendly for all except for the players and coaches.
8. Probably not.
GSfromWinnipeg - How about opinions on possible rule changes? You can certainly throw in your two cents, as well as everyone else.Here are some of my thoughts: 1. Why do we need to get so fancy with goal-line technology. Chips in the ball? Come on. If you want to position cameras along the line, fine. But, why can't they just add a back-line official who is in charge of watching for balls crossing the line? He could also assist with fouls in the box. It seems to me this would satisfy the purists and be at least as effective as technology that often still doesn't answer the question 100%.
2. Get rid of this passive offside rule. It just adds to the confusion. Vassell's goal on Sunday was a perfect example. Since the ball does not go to him, is that the end of Phase 1? Then he is back onside by the time the ball ricochets to him, so that makes it a good goal. But this must be a nightmare for the linesmen. Especially when it seems standard practise for players to line up offside on deadball situations to try and confuse the defense. By the way, since you are supposed to play to the whistle, and, as a defender, a man is behind you heading for goal, therefore you have to make an attempt to catch him, pulling yourself out of position. But the ball never goes to that attacker so he is "passive" while the onside attacker takes advantage of the space left by the defender to score. How is this helping the game.
KEEP IT SIMPLE (which offside will never be). If anyone is offside, play is dead. Period.
3. NO TO SIN BINS. As Harry Redknapp says, that will just encourage 10 minutes of time-wasting and defensive play. Just what football needs, 10 more minutes of 10 men behind the ball.
4. 3 YELLOW CARDS BEFORE YOU GET A RED. Encourage the refs to hand out a yellow every time a foul deserves it. I think they often don't give a yellow, because they know how serious the ramifications a second yellow is. This leads to inconsistency. The good refs talk to a player first and warn him a yellow is coming next time, but we can get rid of that need. The "talking" will be the first yellow. This would especially be of use in internationals where language is often a problem.
Also, get rid of suspensions for accumulated yellows (or at least increase the number of yellows before suspension). This almost always ends up excluding the best players from the biggest games due to some idiotic decision by the player or the ref, three games ago. I am thinking of Roy Keane missing the Champions League final in 99, Ballack missing the 2002 World Cup final, Zidane missing a key match in the 98 Cup, etc.
5. GOLDEN GOAL IN TOURNAMENTS AND ENDLESS OVERTIME. I know, this is a pipe dream. But how about giving it a try. I agree with Bobby, penalty kicks is dramatic and a test of mettle and skill, but it isn't the game that was intended. I think overtime rarely works as is because at least one team plays for the penalty kicks, and both teams are so afraid of conceding, they hang back and trust to fate in the kicks. If there is no promise of penalty kicks,
Bobby – 1. Sign me up for that position. Six officials for a game of football? Don’t like that idea.
2. That’s fine make it simple but just wait and hear the cries when someone slots one home into the top corner from 35 yards out and the goal is disallowed because one of his team mates stopped to tie his bootlace and was offside on the other side of the park alone on the touchline.
3. Sin bins are one of the stupidest ideas to come out and until you brought it up again I thought it had died.
4. The language problem was the exact reason that coloured cards were brought in so now to have a mandatory “talking to” being a warning before a yellow card only compounds the problem. Players will just claim that they didn’t know they were on a warning.
Idiotic decisions - Zidane missed games in 1998 because he stomped on a Saudi player. Your basic argument is that players should be given more leeway to foul. I don’t think that is going to encourage anyone to think twice about sliding in late.
5. IBLEEPame goes to overtime the least that both teams deserve is the opportunity to fight back should they go behind. With the Golden Goal rule we would never had the likes of West Germany and Italy sharing five extra time goals in 1970 or France and West Germany playing an epic extra time in 1982.
Mts2284 -1. Recently, a reader asked you about commentators and which ones you liked. What’s your take on BBC’s John Motson? I live in the States and don’t get BBC but I’m a huge fan. Just wanted your opinion on the matter. 2. Why have Thierry Henry or Premiership players like Cristiano Ronaldo not won the FIFA Player of the Year award? Its always players from Serie A and La Liga, like Messi, or Ronaldinho. 3. Why does Ryan Babel not feature more in Liverpool’s starting 11? He’s a fantastic talent with loads of potential.
Bobby –1. His biggest break came when Ronnie Radford thumped the 30 yard winner for Hereford against Newcastle in the FA Cup. I was never a huge fan (although there were many who were aweful) when I lived in the UK – my preference would be for Martin Tyler.
2. I think basically because although they may have good domestic seasons they fail to make a real impact in the Champions League, European Championships or World Cup. Like Ronaldo I don’t think Messi has ever won a senior world or European individual award. 3. You probably nailed it with “loads of potential.” There are few teams willing to commit a regular spot to a player who is not considered the finished article although he may have potential. Having said that I’m also a bit mystified given that a couple of Liverpool players are having poor seasons so far.
Gregz - I was just wondering how much have you seen of Angel di Maria. How goes his development at Benfica and why would he choose to go to Benfica over Arsenal?
Bobby – Not very much since his move to Benfica. Di Maria has yet to score a league goal although the statistics show him with three yellow cards. He has been called up for the Argentina Olympic squad that has a friendly against Guatemala on February 6. Javier Mascherano is in the squad as an overage player. Benfica over Arsenal – probably thought there was a chance to play more at Benfica.
4Everton - Chris Coleman just left Real Sociedad after new management/ownership took over despite getting the team to within three points of promotion on the table. Coleman kept Fulham up even though he was not given a war chest of funds (see Sunderland) last year. Do you see him coming back to the Prem anytime soon?
Bobby – Managers that leave English football for some continental adventures take two routes. If you are the likes of John Toshack or Gordon Milne you don’t come back and instead you make a career of it in foreign lands.
On the other hand there are the likes of Howard Kendall and Graeme Souness who were adventurous enough to try their hand but returned after a relatively short time. I think Coleman will be like the latter.
Ollofan - Did Jeremy St. Louis leave the FSR?
Bobby – He is using up his vacation time.
Redfan2000 - While you are all watching Spurs spank Arse, I just found this on Aunty Beeb and you gotta laugh at Mark McGhee. George Burley is to be offered the Scotland job and Mark McGhee said after he found out: "If George does not win the World Cup then it opens it up for me to be one who does" Thoughts on this one?
Bobby – If it is George Burley then I like the choice. Understated but a very competent manager who has a good track record of getting the best out of his players.
Henry14 - q1 What is your assessment of Adebayor as player bearing in mind you thought he would be on the bench if rvp and da silva were firing?
q2 If you were Liverpool owner would you stick with Rafa?
Bobby – 1. If you said I said that then I guess I must have although I don’t recall that particular statement. I do remember defending Adebayor last season when you wanted him punted out the Emirates. 2. If I was the Liverpool owner I would be focused on whether or not I wanted to remain as owner rather than worrying about the manager.
And finally the resurrection of Chelsea. I may have missed it and apologize if someone got there first. But it seems to me that Glenn Hoddle was the catalyst for the Chelsea revival.
We will start off this week with a plug for the Canadian International Player of the Year as selected by Canadian fans at the Voyageurs website. To quote from the press release – “This award recognizes the Canadian international who, through both their club exploits and international play, made the greatest impact in 2007. Last year, Atiba Hutchinson won this award on the strength of several strong UEFA Champions League performances for his club, FC Copenhagen, as well as for his professionalism, and dedication to Canadian soccer.”
You need to register on the Voyageurs message board, in order to cast a vote but the process I am told is fast, easy and free. And for our American friends, remember even if you are a registered Republican, in Canada, we are only allowed to vote once.
The Times looks back at a game that was played fifty years ago and one that we are unlikely to see the likes of again. Bill Shankly speechless?
For those of you who have not come across The Fiver (an occassionally factual daily e mail from the Guardian Unlimited) you can follow the link and discover the winners of their annual year end awards. Any awards that you would like to add?
Last weekend saw Bundesliga teams play their last league games until February 3. Spain (returning January 6), France and Italy (both returning January 12) sign-off this weekend with some great games in prospect.
Lyon might have been a bit slow out the gate this season but a win over second place AS Nancy would give them a very comfortable seven point lead at the half-way mark. And a seventh consecutive league title would be in prospect come the New Year.
Nancy are winless in the last four games but with third place Bordeaux already eight points behind Lyon they look to be the last team with any hope of challenging the perennial champions.
Not surprisingly the attention in Spain will be on the Barcelona vs. Real Madrid match. However, the other Madrid vs. Barcelona weekend match-up between Atletico Madrid and Espanyol doesn’t look bad either.
Atletico has only lost once in their last nine Liga games while Espanyol are undefeated in the last twelve. When you consider that no Spanish side has scored more goals at home than Atletico and likewise Espanyol away then we could be in for another belter oBLEEPame at the Vicente Calderon.
Like Lyon, a win for Real Madrid at the Nou Camp would provide the reigning champs with a seven point cushion at the top. However, there is a great deal more competition in the Spanish league and only the most foolhardy Real Madrid fan would be expecting a stroll to a second straight title come the New Year.
There was an interesting article a couple of weeks ago from Gabriele Marcotti on how Real's summer signing spree that cost around $160M has largely failed to produce any direct results. However, it seems to have reinvigorated some other players.
Raul is a prime example having already scored eight league goals, his best return in the last three seasons with less than half the season gone. Raul’s scoring stats over the last few seasons have mirrored his decreasing effectiveness. Starting with the 1998/99 season and moving forward to 06/07 Raul’s league goals have been 25, 17, 25, 14, 16, 11, 9, 5, and 7.
Any hope that Milan may have had at the start of this season of stopping Inter’s drive for a historic three consecutive Serie A titles seems to have evaporated over the first four months of this season.
Milan – FIFA Club World Champions and UEFA Champions League winners – are a massive twenty-two points behind Inter and even if you give them nine points from their three games in hand the gap is still monstrous. As it presently sits a finish in the top four is a more realistic goal.
Inter have seen injury worries mount in the last few weeks but it has made little difference to what has become a well oiled machine. Second place Roma have rattled off six wins and four draws (22 points from a possible 30) but have seen the gap with Inter grow from three points to seven over that time span.
Argentine forward Julio Cruz has been putting the ball into the net on a consistent basis with nine goals in 12 Serie A appearances and he has scored in his last three appearances. What makes it surprising is that Cruz is doing it at the age of 33 – an age at which most players are seeing production tailing off.
One thing going for Cruz is his lack of “mileage” – less than 400 games in 15 seasons means that the Argentine striker has averaged less than 25 games a season with a high of 33 games for Bologna in the early part of this decade.
Quick free kicks Super subs? Spurs’ Jermaine Defoe has come off the Premiership bench twelve times this season but has only scored once (against Manchester City two weeks ago). But with 14 goals as a substitute Defoe is second in Premiership history to Manchester United’s Solskjaer with 17.
Defoe’s best season as a scoring sub was in 01/02 when he scored six goals after coming on for West Ham. This is Defoe’s 9th season in the Premiership but he has failed to complete ninety minutes in more than half the 207 games that he has played in.
Andy Johnson of Everton has scored all of his three Premiership goals after coming on as a substitute this season – he is without a goal in 8 Premiership starts.
It is a hard sell to Liverpool fans but things are getting better as far as the Premiership is concerned. Going into this weekend Liverpool are 10 points behind the leaders and have a game in hand. Last season the gap was 15 points with an equal number of games played, in 05/06 it was 15 points and Liverpool had two games in hand.
The 04/05 season saw Liverpool 15 points in arrears (same games played) and a year before that, 16 points worse off than the top of the table Arsenal. In 2002/03 on this date Liverpool sat 5th and were only 5 points behind leaders Arsenal. However, by season end Manchester United were on top while Liverpool maintained the same league position albeit finishing 19 points behind the Champions.
If Villa starts a back four of Mellberg, Knight, Laursen and Bouma against Manchester City this weekend it will be for the 15th straight time in the Premiership. City has an outstanding record against Villa – 3 wins and a draw in their last 4 Premiership visits – in the last ten Premiership meetings against Villa City have 8 wins, a loss and a draw.
Another side that is hoping that history means something are Middlesbrough. Boro have a great home record vs. West Ham – 8 wins, 1 draw and no losses, they’ve scored 20 and conceded only six.
Steve Bruce will hoping for a better holiday period than last season. Twelve months ago Wigan were the only side to lose all four games. The best holiday performers were Manchester United with ten points out of a possible dozen. Next best were Arsenal, Liverpool, Blackburn, Bolton and City each with a point fewer.
If you are a fan of a team in a top tier European League it is no longer good enough to just keep track of your team’s fortunes but also the Championship races in other countries.
Particularly at this time of year – the reason? Welcome to the wonderful world of UEFA Coefficients. For it is country and club coefficients that will dictate what rounds clubs will be dropped into (country coefficients) and the seeding that the club will attract when the various draws are made – the club coefficients. for the two European competitions next season
So if you are a Celtic fan for example you are checking the results from Germany this week in the hope that Stuttgart can maintain a lead on Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and eventually take one of the three CL spots to the exclusion of Bayern.
If Bayern usurp Stuttgart them Celtic will be more likely not to be seeded in pot 2 which means when they enter the third round of Champions League they are more likely to face a strong team such as the likes of Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Arsenal or AC Milan. The site that I linked to is maintained by Bert Kassie who does an incredible job of staying on top of the constant changes in the UEFA Coefficients.
Last weekend we saw Celtic, Inter Milan and Lyon wrap up their respective titles and all by the proverbial country mile. The Dutch title will be decided this weekend but the contrast with the title processions in Scotland, Italy and France could not be more marked.
A few weeks ago it looked as if PSV were going to stroll to the title but over the last six games they have stumbled badly with only one win and three draws. Even going into the final few minutes of the game last week against Utrecht it looked as if they would at least enter the last round of play with a two point lead over AZ Alkmaar and Ajax.
But, with four minutes left Utrecht equalized and AZ Alkmaar took over top spot on goal difference with Ajax second and PSV trailing in third. All the teams have 72 points but AZ have a goal difference of 53, Ajax 47 and PSV 46. If AZ take the title it will be only their second all time – that last was in 1981 – and they will be the first time that a side outside of the big three in Holland (PSV, Ajax and Feyenoord) has one the championship in 26 years.
For the second and third place sides a play off for the other Champions League spot. awaits. AZ plays Excelsior who are currently 16th, Ajax plays 15th placed Willem II and for PSV it will be Vitesse who are sitting in 12th spot. AZ and Ajax are both going for the domestic double and will face each other in the Dutch Cup Final.
In France, Italy and Portugal it is a case of the second place team playing the team right behind them in the table.
At stake in both France and Portugal are automatic group spots for the league runners up and in the case of Portugal there remains a faint hope that Porto might still be caught. Lens still leads Bordeaux by a point in France even though a win last week was their first in six matches. Bordeaux are riding a crest at the moment and are unbeaten in their last eight games (four wins and four draws). They have also scored five goals in their last two wins which constitutes an attacking explosion for a side that has only hit the back of the net 35 times in 33 games.
Benfica and Sporting Lisbon could both be considered in-form teams with the Eagles unbeaten in 17 games (12 wins and 5 draws) and Sporting have not tasted defeat in their last 14 games (9 wins and 5 draws). Benfica’s last loss was back on November 18 while Sporting’s last loss was to their great city rivals by a score of 2-0 when they last met. Porto enters the weekend with a four point lead and also face a derby encounter against Boavista who are struggling in a lower mid-table position.
The Rome derby is the match of the weekend in Italy with Lazio looking to complete the double over Roma. After falling one game short of matching a club record on nine straight wins Lazio fans will be concerned that the team is running out of gas with two draws and a loss in their last three games. It could be a more noteable occasion than normal for Roma’s Francesco Totti and Lazio keeper Angelo Peruzzi. If Totti plays he will set a new record of 23 appearances in this derby rivalry while for Angelo Peruzzi it may be his last as he contemplates a season’s end retirement.
In the UK the battle at the top and bottom of the Premiership will demand attention but in the Championship and Scottish League there will be some compelling match ups. In Scotland, Gretna needs to beat bottom of the table Ross County in the last game of the season to secure promotion to the SPL for next season. They currently lead St. Johnstone by a single point and what makes this remarkable is that it will mean that Gretna will have achieved three successive promotions.
In the second tier of English football two of Sunderland, Derby and Birmingham will gain automatic promotion and a massive payday to the Premiership. The side that misses out will have another chance together with three other teams in the play offs. The problem is that is far from clear who the other three teams will be. With two games left only three points separate seven teams. Fans of Preston, West Brom, Wolves, Southampton, Stoke, Colchester and Sheffield Wednesday will be sweating ever moment this weekend.
The FSC MLS Game of the Week is the LA derby with Chivas playing LA Galaxy. You would think that if any team can use the media attention showered on the Galaxy the last few months to their own advantage it would be Chivas. I have yet to see Galaxy this season but have watched Chivas twice. They were well in control of the game against Toronto FC and thought that were unlucky to lose to Houston Dynamo. Maykel Galindo’s seering pace is going to create a lot of chances for him this season and I could see him making a big impact during his first year in the league.
Toronto FC opens their new stadium (BMO) this weekend against the Kansas City Wizards the team that convincingly beat them 3-0 on Wednesday night. The trades that Mo Johnston made to acquire Kevin Goldthwaite and Marvell Wynne looked to have improved the defense although the central pairing of Jim Brennan and Marco Reda didn’t inspire confidence. Centre back is not the position for Brennan who was probably Toronto’s best player over the first two games when he occupied the left side of the defense in a 3-5-2 formation.
Toronto desperately needs a player with presence in the centre of the defense and there is no indication that such a player is presently on the roster. The midfield is struggling to string more than two passes together and rarely get into positions to support the two strikers. Up front Alecko Eskandarian is constantly tearing down blind alleys but at least he is giving honest effort. We will see if home support of 20,000 can help Toronto to their first goal and win.
The most important league game of the weekend is in Portugal with Benfica against Porto. Sporting Lisbon blew the league race open when they went to Oporto almost two weeks ago and beat the home team 1-0. Benfica have the best home record in Portugal with a draw in ten games the only blemish and they currently trail Porto by one point. Benfica have to play Sporting once more in the league this season – April 29. Portugal cut the league back to sixteen teams this season so although each team has only played 22 games they are only eight left to play.
Lyon are looking to for the first half of a league and league cup double – something they never accomplished – when they face Bordeaux in the League Cup Final. Lyon won the trophy in 2001 which was the year before they set off on their run of consecutive league wins. Bordeaux won the Cup the following season and it remains their last piece of silverware. Interestingly Juninho of Lyon has never scored a goal in a game against Bordeaux.
It looks as if Bayern Munich needs to beat Schalke in order to retain any interest in the Bundesliga title. With only eight games to go and trailing Schalke by nine points and Werder Bremen by six, three points would appear to be mandatory. The good news for Bayern fans is that in thirty-six Bundesliga visits Schalke have only five wins and five draws to show for their efforts.
With both teams facing Champions League action this coming week it will be interesting to see how Milan and Roma line up in the Olympic Stadium on Saturday. Roma are sitting with a comfortable nine point lead on rivals Lazio – surely one of the over achievers in the European leagues this season – who are in third place. Milan have slowly but surely worked their up Serie A and are now within four points of a slumping Palermo side for the last Champions League spot and Milan has a game in hand.
The Barcelona versus Deportivo La Coruna game would be more interesting if the game wasn’t in the Nou Camp. Deportivo La Coruna have an abysmal away record having won only twice on their travels this season although both came relatively recently. Goal scoring has been Deportivo’s problem with only 20 goals in the “for” column – only seven have come away from the Riazor. Barcelona have yet to lose to any opposition in the bottom half of the table.
The best in the premiership would look to be Liverpool vs. Arsenal in the early Saturday game while free scoring Tottenham and Reading on Sunday also looks promising. In the battle to avoid relegation Charlton have the opportunity to pull Wigan into the battle and reduce the gap between the two teams to three points. Some things to note going into this game are that Wigan has yet to come back and win a game in which they have conceded the first goal and they have lost 19 points this season from winning positions – the worst in the Premiership
Sheffield United could give themselves a massive lift if they can beat a slumping Bolton side which has lost their last three games. The bad news is United last picked up a point on the road over three months ago. Here is Sheffield United run-in which at least gives them control of their fate - Newcastle (h), Manchester United (a), West Ham (h), Charlton (a), Watford (h), Aston Villa (a) and Wigan (h).
No shortage of talking points this weekend. Manchester United grind out a win at Craven Cottage...Javier Mascherano makes his Liverpool debut....West Ham gets a hiding from Charlton and the Hammers have a difficult last 10 games.....Real Madrid largely outplayed by Atletico and have Barcelona coming up in two weeks....meanwhile Barcelona and Sevilla will face each other this coming weekend.....Lyon fight-back to take a point after being two goals down....Schalke 04 - are they going to selBLEEPestruct again? ........and there was a piece of silverware handed out in England.
Amy Lawrence contrasts Arsenal’s attitude to youth development and Chelsea’s.
Paul Wilson takes a look at the issue of standing at games. “When Saturday Comes” ran a a similar feature this month a looked at the experience of Borussia Dortmund.
Hugh McIlvanney – the dean of British football writers – provides his view on the Craig Bellamy and his short-game.
Nick Townsend on what might have turned out to be a tragedy in Lens last week.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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