The Best…..

James Milner provides such wonderful for Aston Villa week in and week out. He put in another great ninety minutes on Saturday when Villa beat Chelsea 2-1.

There were six goals in the Real Madrid v Valladolid match (four on them to Madrid) and there were some real beauties amongst them.

Steve Bruce may have made two of the best signings of the season in Darren Bent and Lorik Cana. Bent scored his eighth in the Premier League and Cana put in a yeomen effort in midfield and centre back as Sunderland beat Liverpool 1-0.

Honorable mentions.....

If it wasn’t for Brian Edwards in goal Toronto would not have finished the game against Real Salt Lake with one point let alone the three that they took. Replacing first choice Stefan Frei, Edwards pulled of three terrific saves to stymied RSL.

FC Dallas maintained their late drive to the play offs with a 2-1 win at Colorado. At the end of August it looked to be an almost impossible situation but the seven games since have brought a remarkable 16 points.

There final game is away to Seattle Sounders next Saturday and Seattle has already secured a play-off spot in their inaugural MLS season.

It was in a losing cause but Daniele Dessena’s goal against Catania was spectacular. Dessena is currently on loan at Cagliari from Sampdoria.  

Hugo Rodallega continues to provide full value for money. This time the Colombian put in a tremendous effort stationed on the left side of the Wigan midfield that lined up against Manchester City. Rodallega was a constant thorn to City and it was his shot just before half time that Given spilled to a waiting Charles N’Zgobia.

Best forgotten…..

As the minutes ticked down on CONCACAF World Cup qualifying it looked as if Costa Rica had indeed turned around their death spiral and were going to be able to hold on to their 2-1 lead against the US.

However, a poor piece of marking allowed Bornstein to head an equalizer. That, combined with Honduras beating El Salvador, means a play off show down with Uruguay if they hope to make it three consecutive World Cup appearances.

Dejan Stankovic scored what may well turn out to be the most unique goal of the season as he hit a shot from the halfway line after a misplaced Marco Amelia pass. The Genoa keeper had ventured out of his penalty area and instead of finding a team mate with was was supposed to be racking cross field pass he hit the ball right to the Inter midfielder who volleyed it first time back into the Genoa net.

Last season Hertha Berlin surprised almost everyone as they challenged for the Bundesliga. This season got off to a great start with a win against Hannover but it soon turned ugly. Hertha has now lost eight consecutive Bundesliga games and not surprisingly they are marooned at the foot of the table four points adrift.

Goodness knows what Burnley captain Graham Alexander was thinking off when he headed the ball across his own goal area. Franco di Santo gratefully accepted the gift to put Blackburn 2-1 up.

Stat facts…..

Raul played his 711th game for Real Madrid on Saturday, a new club record.

Two Bundesliga sides that have struggled at home both recorded wins on Saturday. Eintracht Frankfurt had gone seven games without gaining three points, while in the case of Cologne it was six. Cologne beat Mainz 1-0 and Eintracht beat Hannover 2-1.

The 1-1 draw between Manchester City and Wigan means that City have still to record an away Premier league win against Wigan. For Wigan it was only their second draw in the last 21 premier League matches.

The Blackburn v Burnley brought together two the fonder members of the Football League but was their first top flight clash since 1966.

The top of the Bundesliga clash between Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen didn’t produce any goals but the clean sheet for Bayer they have equaled a club record for not conceding a goal in four consecutive games.


What was said….

Here is a look back at the fantastic Danish side of the 80s. Another example that puts paid to the notion so often parroted of it all being about trophies.

An interview with actor Michael Sheen who plays the role of Brian Clough in “The Damned United”

Former New England Revolution midfielder Andy Dorman is ready to take advantage of a little known FIFA rule that will allow him to play for Wales.

UEFA.com looks at some young players making a name in this season’s Champions League.

David Conn looks at how Pompey won an FA Cup but couldn’t pay the bills.  


Coming up this week…..

We have the return of the Champions League and the Europa League as well as CONCACAF Champions League.

On Thursday Chivas and Chicago Fire, two MLS teams that know that they will be in post-season play, complete their regular season schedules.