“Lionel Messi scored his 55th goal of the season as 10-man Barcelona beat Mallorca 2-0 for their seventh consecutive league win. Messi, who broke Barcelona’s all-time scoring record on Wednesday, netted from a poorly defended free-kick to become the first player in a top-level European league to score 55 goals in a season since Sporting Lisbon’s Mário Jardel in 2002.” Guardian
“This season, Liverpool have not won enough games because they have not scored enough goals. What started out as “one of those days” (Stoke away, 24 shots, 3 clear chances, 0 points), became a blip (Norwich home, 29 shots, 2 clear chances, 1 point), became a season-long malaise. By the time we played Blackburn at Anfield (27 shots, 5 clear chances, 1 point), there was little more than a resigned shrug from Liverpool fans.” Tomkins Times
“Carlos Tevez and Edin Dzeko helped turn a 0-1 into a 2-1. Manchester City were without Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott, so Micah Richards moved into the middle. Mario Balotelli continues to start ahead of Edin Dzeko in big games, while James Milner was left out with Samir Nasri preferred. Roberto Di Matteo played Fernando Torres upfront, Ramires on the right and John Obi Mikel in the holding role. John Terry was out.” Zonal Marking
“Robin van Persie has almost singlehandedly kept the team afloat until now, with 26 league goals and 5 in the Champions League. But now he’s got real help, as in a real team behind him. In the event of a top-four finish, perhaps his future may yet lay in the red half of North London.” Cult Football
Cheick Titoe
“What a difference a few months can make, especially at a football club. Newcastle United fans endured a turbulent pre-season, as they saw the heart and soul of their team leaving for pastures new with Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton making their way to London and José Enrique joining his former colleague Andy Carroll at Liverpool.” Swiss Ramble
“As any Roma fan should know, three clubs were merged together in the summer of 1927 to form the club now known as AS Roma. What may be less well known is that the merger was initiated by a member of the Fascist party, who had taken power five years previously, and that Lazio were the only side to oppose the move and remain an independent club. The driving force behind the merger? To create a new, Roman club that would unite Rome’s numerous clubs and provide a strong southern opponent to the dominant northern clubs.” In Bed With Maradoma
“Anybody who thought the two draws with which Zenit St Petersburg began the third – and final – part of this marathon Russian season might signal a dip in form, opening the possibility of a realistic title challenge, was rapidly disabused on Friday. Dynamo Moscow were third in the table and had lost only twice in 17 home games this season; they seemed a genuine threat. If they could even have held Zenit to a draw, CSKA could have closed to within four points with a win in the Moscow derby against Spartak. CSKA fulfilled their part, winning 2-1, but Zenit were imperious, winning 5-1, keeping the gap at six points and, by the manner in which they did so, emphasising just how far they are ahead of every other team in Russia.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“On another amazing weekend for Welsh sport our resident Swansea City fan, Abi Davies made her way back from London with a smile as wide as Swansea Bay after an excellent win at Fulham.” The Ball Is Round
“Hallelujah! It has happened. At long last, after five bitterly barren months, Fernando Torres has scored for Chelsea; I was privileged to be at Stamford Bridge to see it. And scored not only once against haphazard Leicester, but twice. And not only scored twice but showed he could set up goals for others.” World Soccer
“Olympiakos are closer to the league title after this game was abandoned because of crowd trouble ten minutes from full-time. Panathinaikos coach Jesualdo Ferreira played Konstantinos Katsouranis as his highest midfielder, with Cedic Kante and Josu Sarriegi the centre-back pairing – the first time they’d started together all season.” Zonal Marking (YouTube)
“It is one of the most commonly recurring stories of modern football. Should Celtic and Rangers be allowed to leave the Scottish league system and join the English football league system instead? It’s an emotive subject, for sure, and it’s one that seems to divide both supporters and administrators, with the only people that are certain of which way they would like to go being those that run Glasgow’s two giant clubs, who would like to utilise the vaster resources that would be open to them as a result of being in the more lucrative English system than they would get from remaining in England.” twohundredpercent
“Before Ian Fleming made his name writing the James Bond books, he was eclipsed by older brother Peter, a derring-do adventurer of the type Michael Palin might have been born to satirise. Peter Fleming was part of an eccentric expedition into the Brazilian jungle in the early 1930s, which he wrote about in a book best remembered for its stand out line. ‘Sao Paulo,’ he mused, ‘is like Reading, only much further away’ – an observation which does, of course, depend on one’s starting point, but which contains an excellent piece of insight.” BBC – Tim Vickery
“After a series of poor league results, including three defeats in a row for the first time in nearly a decade, stern questions were being asked of Kenny and his team’s management of Liverpool, probably for the first time; were the most suitable players purchased in the summer, have the tactics been right, and so on.” TomkinsTimes
“INT. DRESSING ROOM – EVE. We are somewhere in the bowels of a large football stadium. Several staff and 23 players – three lions on all their shirts – sit around looking nervy, or nervously applying ‘product’ to hair (hair shaped like one of those asymmetrical postmodernist sculptures named after abstract nouns – Courage, Trust, Camaraderie – and habitually found outside civic buildings, which, within a generation, have become discoloured, unloved, and appropriated by skateboarders).” Run of Play
“Wow. I’m not sure the Champions League draw could have been scripted any better. Real Madrid and Barcelona can’t meet until the final. And that’s good because a 2011-12 Champions League decided by a clásico, the seventh of the season, would be unprecedented and special, not to mention “right” in the sporting sense: these two are the best teams in the world right now. But that’s a hypothetical. We’re not there yet, of course. Barca and Real still have to play their way to the Allianz Arena in Munich. And there’s plenty that can go wrong between now and then.” SI
“In last week’s derby Liverpool had four homegrown players, here’s five more who are ready for the first team, thanks in no small part to Rafael Benitez’s work on the academy set-up…” Sabotage Times
“Uuuuf … as the Spanish say. Where do we start this week? Well perhaps with a rather unusual theme, at least as far as La Liga goes. It seems to have been a recurring topic throughout the week, set off by Jose Mourinho complaining once again that the Bernabeu is too ‘cold’ and that the stadium needs to get behind its players to a greater extent. ‘Never mind about me’ he said, adding that he wanted the supporters to mostrar mas carino (show more affection) to the players, and support them through thick and thin.” ESPN
“Galatasaray are close to the title after an impressive comeback in the Kıtalar Arası Derbi. Fenerbahce coach Aykut Kocaman has named an XI similar to this all season – ten of the positions featured his most-used individual in that role. The exception was Moussa Sow, who only arrived from Lille in January, but has been a regular upfront since. Miroslav Stoch has shared the left-wing position with Caner Erkin, while Serdar Kesimal competes with Fabio Bilica and Bekir Irtegun for a place at centre-back, but this was a typical Fenerbahce XI.” Zonal Marking
“Kenny Dalglish’s innate, instinctive reaction is to defend his charges, whatever the accusations levelled against them. He can appear especially touchy when the players in question are his signings. But even those accustomed to a defiant Dalglish forming a protective shield in front of an under-fire footballer were taken aback by the Scot’s January justification of Stewart Downing’s recruitment when he said: ‘He is better than what I thought he was.'” ESPN
“Whether they are your team or not, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that we are enjoying football during the time of one of the world’s greatest ever club sides. Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona deserve their place in any list of finest teams and London based photography firm Divar and Aguilar have been with the Catalan club throughout the current golden era…” In Bed With Maradoma, Gallery – 2, Diver & Aguilar: Blog
“You know it’s not exactly a scrapbook-worthy weekend of football when managers are reduced to bemoaning what they deserved or how they were the better team or how they ‘bossed it’ (I see you, Martin Jol) following a loss or a draw. Coming at the end of a week where there was plenty of talk about England’s place in European football’s pecking order — what with Arsenal going out of the Champions League and both Manchester sides losing in the Europa League — the weekend’s action did little to quell murmurs that the Premier League is no longer the premier league.” Grantland (YouTube)
“‘Men walk as prophecies of the next age,’ the celebrated essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson once said. The Real Madrid boardroom fell silent. ‘We will not miss Makelele,’ harrumphed Florentino Perez at last, snapping his fingers for Emerson to be escorted from the room and for a more expensive essayist to be brought in.” Run of Play
“Lionel Messi scored five goals in a single game last week, becoming the first player in the Champions League ever to do so. Most were impressed; some were not. Against Bayer Leverkusen, they said: So what? It is a familiar argument — and one that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in particular have been forced to confront time and time again. Between them, they have racked up astonishing goal scoring figures, breaking records at every turn — Messi has scored 50 goals already this season, Ronaldo 40 — but the nagging doubt lingers. Yeah, they say, but against who?” SI
Southampton, UK
“In an individual match, it’s easy to see that a side have a bias towards one particular flank. In Monday’s 2-1 win over Newcastle, Arsenal constantly attacked down the right, with Theo Walcott staying wide on that flank, and Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain moving inside from the left. That was surprising when you looked at the opposition, because Newcastle were likely to be more secure down their left (where Jonas Gutierrez protects his full-back well) than down the right, where the ill-disciplined Hatem Ben Arfa was reluctantly fielded. But the bias towards the right, while exaggerated in that game, is actually typical of Arsenal this season, and in the last couple of years.” Zonal Marking
“On April 2, 2011, India won its second Cricket World Cup. But unlike most other cricket fans, I didn’t watch the final in its entirety. For a ninety-minute stretch, I was watching Manchester United produce a typically wondrous comeback against West Ham United. It was a significant win without which any joy at India’s triumph would have been unmistakably sullied. Even though I was born and raised in India my attachment to a soccer club — one that I’ve never seen play in the flesh — was stronger. When, a few weeks later, on May 14, Manchester United clinched its 19th league title and surpassed Liverpool’s long-held record, I felt transcendent joy.” Run of Play
“Chelsea produced an impressive display to qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals. Roberto Di Matteo chose a rough 4-2-3-1 system, with Daniel Sturridge wide on the right, and Ramires tucked in on the left. Walter Mazzarri named his expected side – Juan Zuniga in ahead of Andrea Dossena was the only small debate in his selection. Zuniga got the nod, but then had to move to the right once Christian Maggio picked up an injury, and Dossena came on down the left. This was an entertaining game with either side being ‘ahead’ in the tie at two separate points – Chelsea came out on top, though it wasn’t a particularly enthralling tactical battle.” Zonal Marking
“Bayern stormed into the quarter-final after a comfortable victory. Jupp Heynckes decided Bastian Schweinsteiger wasn’t fit enough to start – he was on the bench. Luiz Gustavo played in the middle with Toni Kroos ahead, Philipp Lahm switched to right-back, with David Alaba on the left. Heiko Vogel made one change from the first leg, bringing in Cabral for Benjamin Huggel, so Basel were back to the XI that beat Manchester United last year. Basel started off pressing high in the first five minutes, but then retreated into a deep shape with two banks of four behind the ball.” Zonal Marking
“Humanity seems to have a built-in regard for symmetry. It was what William Blake admired in the tiger and it explains, various surveys have claimed, why certain faces are considered more attractive than others (Denzel Washington and Cate Blanchett, apparently, have the most symmetrical faces in Hollywood). The instinct with football teams and formations has always been to set them out symmetrically – a 4-3-3 with the shuttling players neatly flanking the anchor and the wingers placed precisely on their touchlines, or a blockish 4-4-2 that becomes two lines with a line half the length set centrally atop them.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“Lavish, extravagant and most importantly, abundant levels of praise have been heaped upon Lionel Messi and the magic of his ability. However, as is so often with great victors, the story of the defeat is often lost or forgotten. Rarely does the question arise, “what about their opponents”? Has anyone thought about them in the context of this footballing master-class? There have been countless teams to fall under the proverbial sword of Barcelona’s play and recently it was Bayer Leverkusen who stood out in defeat. Although slightly altered in terms of personnel, this was a side that had beaten Bayern Munich by two clear goals the weekend before their encounter in the Nou Camp. Yet for the majority of their time in modern football’s colosseum they were mere pedestrians. The collateral damage that so many sides effectively become during and after playing Barcelona is extremely interesting, not merely because of the impact it may well have on that team’s season but also on an individual’s career.” In Bed With Maradona
Messi still has some way to go before he can be considered the greatest
“As the plaudits shower on the gifted Lionel Messi, why do I keep thinking about Ron Clarke, a largely forgotten Australian athlete? A middle distance runner who, between Olympiads, set record after record, but who, when it came to the Olympic Games themselves, never came close to a gold medal? Anticlimax after four years anti-climax.” World Soccer – Brian Glanville
“This was another interesting clash between David Moyes and Harry Redknapp. Their tactical battle at White Hart Lane last season was fascinating, and this game followed a similar pattern of Moyes responding to Redknapp’s decisions. I’ve written about the difference between the two over at the Guardian, using the battle between Gareth Bale and Seamus Coleman to sum up the two managers’ styles.” Zonal Marking
“A Brazilian journalist this week came up with the thoroughly sensible idea that 7 March henceforth be commemorated as world football’s Day of the Goal. It was not only the date on which Lionel Messi chalked up his five for Barcelona in the Champions League; in the South American equivalent, the Copa Libertadores, Neymar of Santos also added a magnificent hat-trick of his own.” BBC – Tim Vickery
“Oscar Tabarez and Herve Renard may not obviously have a lot in common. With his sober ties and thoughtful limp, the 65-year-old former schoolteacher Tabarez looks like he should be the precinct chief in a seventies detective series, while the flamboyant, 43-year-old Renard’s long hair and unbuttoned shirts make him look like the passionate lead in a 19th-century romance. And yet, in the past year, both have taken unfancied sides to continental tournament triumphs, and both have done so with similar methods.” World Soccer – Jonathan Wilson (YouTube)
“There can be few things more tiresome in international football than war analogies. Sometimes, however, they are inescapable and this can be no more true than in the case of European nations which once pitched up against each other on battlefields, only to find themselves facing off against their former allies or rivals for decades afterwards. In the case of the Dutch national team, the complex nature of its relationship with its neighbour – and former occupier – Germany has come to manifest itself through an occasional series of gladiatorial matches between the two national sides.” twohundredpercent
“Beleaguered Inter Milan dragged themselves back from another near disastrous defeat at home on Sunday. Diego Milito this time was charged with pulling the game level against Catania. They had been two goals down but the comeback tasted as bitter as a defeat due to the performance once again screaming of inadequacy.” In Bed With Maradona
Hubert Robert – Architectural Composition with the Pantheon
“I know what you’re already thinking. That I’m going to argue something entirely inarguable. That in between skimming the dressing room copies of Nuts and Zoo the average Premier League footballer is more likely to clutch a well thumbed copy of Ayn Rand’s hymn to self interest, ‘Atlas Shrugged’ than the collected writings of Tony Crosland. And you’d be right of course. Modern football is awash with greed – with car swerving prima-donna Ashley Cole its own John Galt – a rifle toting poster boy for the ‘we’ll do what we like’ generation.” thetwounfortunates
“Nicklas Bendtner’s second goal in a week secured a 1-0 victory for Sunderland over Liverpool as Jose Reina endured another miserable afternoon on Wearside. The Denmark international pounced from close range with 56 minutes gone to fire the home side ahead after strike-partner Fraizer Campbell’s shot had twice hit the woodwork with the Spaniard unable to do anything about it.” ESPN
“Athletic produced an extremely impressive performance, and take a decent lead back to Bilbao. Sir Alex Ferguson left out the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Danny Welbeck, and went with Javier Hernandez upfront, and a combination of Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans at the back.” Zonal Marking
“Despite the ultimately exciting method of victory, and the novelty of having a Cypriot club in the final eight of the European Cup, the APOEL v Lyon game was actually a dull spectacle. This was true in both technical and tactical terms. Technically, the sides finished with fairly low pass completion rates (71% and 74%), and tactically neither changed much throughout the game. Even when it did look as if the coaches might shake things up, when APOEL coach Ivan Jovanovic switched from two strikers to one striker, and Lyon boss Remi Garde did the opposite at the same time, the sides continued to play in much the same manner.” Zonal Marking
“The first time I meet Marco Vidal, he tells me I need to hop on YouTube. If I want to understand why he willingly lives in the world’s most dangerous city and why he plays for the Indios of Ciudad Juárez fútbol club and why he feels the Indios are a special team, then I’ve got to watch what happened after his Indios defeated the Esmeraldas of León back in 2008. Juárez and León (a 440-year-old tannery town in the exact center of Mexico) had played a two-game series, home and home, for the highest of stakes. The losers were to stay in minor league obscurity, earning little money and waiting at least a year for even a chance to change their station in life. The winners would rise into the Primera, Mexico’s top league. International TV every week. Big-time paychecks. Home games against glamorous clubs like Chivas of Guadalajara and road trips to such soccer shrines as the 105,000-seat Estadio Azteca, in Mexico City.” Grantland
This Love Is Not For Cowards: Salvation and Soccer in Ciudad Juárez
“More than ten people are murdered every day in Ciudad Juárez, a city about the size of Philadelphia. As Mexico has descended into a feudal narco-state-one where cartels, death squads, the army, and local police all fight over billions of dollars in profits from drug and human trafficking-the border city of Juárez has been hit hardest of all. And yet, more than a million people still live there. They even love their impoverished city, proudly repeating its mantra: ‘Amor por Juárez’.” amazon
“Lionel Messi scored five goals Wednesday in Barcelona’s 7-1 razing of Bayer Leverkusen, sending the defending Champions League trophy holders through to the quarterfinals. When Messi is on his game (which is usually), he is completely unplayable. I am not Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Cormac McCarthy, so I feel a little ill-equipped to accurately sum up this athlete’s brilliance. In lieu of that, here’s how I would rank Messi’s five-goal haul…” Grantland (Video)
Lionel Messi hits five as Barcelona rout Bayer Leverkusen
“Lionel Messi at his breathtaking best ripped Bayer Leverkusen apart with a record five-goal Champions League haul as Barcelona swept into the quarter-finals 7-1 on the night and 10-2 on aggregate. The Argentinian world player of the year became the first player to score five in a Champions League match, and the first in the competition since Soren Lerby did so for Ajax in a 1979 European Cup tie against Omonia Nicosia, in one of the most comprehensive drubbings in the competition’s history.” Guardian
Champions League: FC Barcelona 7, Bayer Leverkusen 1 (10-2 aggr.), Or, Messi To The Fifth Power
“Days like today are difficult for bloggers and sports journalists alike. We sit in the dark, leafing through our thesauruses (Ray Hudson edition, natch) and wonder what we can say that hasn’t been said before already. What adjectives can you use, what metaphor won’t sound trite, what comparison won’t completely fail to convey what happened?” The Offside (Video)
“Seated stands, modern roofs, security guys like well-fed oxes: none existed back in those days. Chaos and disorder reined in the stadiums, just like it did on the streets outside. I told you, there were no seats on the stands. You had to bring something to put under your ass; anything you could lay your hands on. Real sofa cushions from your house, make-shift cushions out of styrofoam, old magazines, newspapers, whatever you could find outside the stadium…” Run of Play
“Arsenal got very close to the most remarkable two-legged turnaround in Champions League history. Arsene Wenger named the logical side considering his injury problems – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain played in midfield, Gervinho was on the left, but Wenger didn’t really have other options. Max Allegri attacked, using Robinho and Stephan El Shaarawy in the front three. Djamel Mesbah played at left-back, with Urby Emanuelson ahead of him. So near yet so far – Arsenal defended well throughout, attacked excellently at the start of the game, but fell away badly at the end.” Zonal Marking
Talking Tactics: How Arsenal can turn it round v AC Milan
“Let’s not beat around the bush. It is highly unlikely that Arsenal are to overcome a four goal deficit, despite being at home, when they take on AC Milan in the second leg of their Champions League tie next week. However, that’s not to say Arsenal can’t regain some pride. But if they are to get any joy, they need to follow a two-point plan, based on dealing with Milan’s front three when defending, and breaking down Milan when in attack. Here’s how…” Just Football
“‘Carloooooooooos Herrrrrrrrrrrnandez’. The PR system rung around Melbourne Victory’s AAMI Park as the introduction of Carlos Hernandez was announced to the home faithful in the biggest game of the season, a derby with cross-town rivals Melbourne Heart. The team sheet shocked every supporter who knew Hernandez, as he was left on the bench. Perplexing. Jim Magilton, the former QPR and Ipswich boss, opted instead for Leigh Broxham and Grant Brebner, a Manchester United youth player, in the centre of midfield.” In Bed With Maradina
“Six of the last nine Premier League games between Liverpool and Arsenal have ended as draws. There have been six 90th minute or later goals scored in the last six league matches between Liverpool and Arsenal. There have been three own goals and two penalties scored in the last five league meetings between the Reds and the Gunners. There have been three red cards in the last three Premier League games between Arsenal and Liverpool.” Tomkins Times
“‘Rome wasn’t built in a day,’ Brian Clough once said, ‘but then I wasn’t on that particular job.’ It’s a good line, but in terms of his career utterly misleading. Clough never had instant success at any club. In his first seasons at Derby County and at Nottingham Forest, he finished in the bottom half of the second flight. Within five years he’d won the league with Derby; it took three with Forest. Alex Ferguson was in his seventh year at Manchester United when he won the league for the first time. Herbert Chapman was in his sixth at Arsenal. Turning around a ship headed in the wrong direction takes time. Andre Villas-Boas was given eight months by Chelsea.” SI – Jonathan Wilson
“As dusk fell outside the San Mames stadium in Bilbao this past Thursday night, a long snaking queue began to form. Despite the freezing cold of the first day of March in Spain’s Basque country, it soon became clear that more than 2,000 people were willing to camp out and wait in line all night simply to be first to get the chance to buy tickets for this week’s classic tie at Old Trafford when Manchester United hosts Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League on Thursday.” ESPN
“Ultras are woven through Italian football culture, from when the first groups began to emerge in the 1950s to today, with the flare-wielding, flag-bearing maniacs still being found in the curve of nationwide football stadia on a Sunday afternoon.” World Soccer
“It is fair to say that this has not been the most enjoyable of seasons for Aston Villa fans. Their team currently sits in 15th place in the Premier League and was eliminated in the early stages of both cup competitions. Although it is unlikely that they will be dragged into a relegation battle, as there are many teams worse than them in England’s top tier, their form does not inspire total confidence. Their problems are all the more poignant, as 2012 is the 30th anniversary of their memorable victory in the European Cup when a Peter Withe goal was enough to defeat the mighty Bayern Munich.” Swiss Ramble
“It may seem odd to look at upon the anniversary of the release of a book, but Fever Pitch is no ordinary book. This year sees the twentieth anniversary of a book that launched its own sub-genre – the football confessional continues to thrive to this day – and has been held responsible for both a sea-change in attitudes towards football supporters and for the gentrification of the game in a general sense, and it is worth taking a moment to pause and consider the impact of a book that went some way towards redefining football writing in Britain.” twohundredpercent
Fever Pitch author Nick Hornby says beautiful game has lost its way
“As the 20th anniversary of the publication of Fever Pitch nears, Nick Hornby worries that the cost of supporting top clubs has turned the game from a passion into a theatre-style ‘treat’.” Guardian
Fever Pitch and the rise of middle-class football
“The publication of Nick Hornby’s football memoir Fever Pitch 20 years ago is often seen as the point when middle-class interest in football began. How far has the game changed since then?”>BBC
“Fever Pitch,” by Nick Hornby
“Fever Pitch is self-confessed football (soccer) tragic Nick Hornby’s semi-autobiography and memoir of his life built around supporting Arsenal FC. Originally written in 1992, Hornby chronicles his youth and teenage years growing up as a divorced child, his years at university, and first forays into adulthood while connecting everything to his obsession of the Arsenal, fan worship and the way obsessions find a way to rule a man’s life. The memoir is told in the format of each chapter being a short essay on the lead-up and goings on in his life preceding a particular match.” Stuff I Read
Fever Pitch
“Fever Pitch: A Fan’s Life is the title of a 1992 autobiographical book by British author Nick Hornby. The book is the basis for two films: Fever Pitch (UK) was released in 1997, and Fever Pitch (US) in 2005. The first edition included the sub-title ‘A Fan’s Life’ but later paperback editions did not.” Wikipedia, amazon
“Argentina will be hoping Lionel Messi is finally starting to transform his stunning club form with Barcelona to the international arena following his magnificent hat-trick in the 3-1 win against Switzerland. The hints were there late last year, in the second half of the World Cup qualifier away to Colombia, and now the Switzerland game has surely consolidated the Messi-Sergio Aguero link-up at the heart of the Argentine attack. The pair have had a natural rapport for years, built up when they roomed together during the 2005 World Youth Cup, and now that understanding is clearly visible on the pitch through their pacy, dazzling exchanges.” BBC – Tim Vickery
“It is tempting to look at the top half of the Premier League table and see rows of upright dominoes. At some point soon, one will teeter and tap its neighbor’s shoulder, and then who knows how many, and which, will follow. What if Harry Redknapp takes the England job? (What if Spurs lose to Manchester United this weekend, and Arsenal beat Liverpool?) What if Chelsea does not get back into the Champions League places? What if Roman Abramovich sacks Andre Villas-Boas? What if he’s the replacement? Why? When?” SI
“Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-0 win over Bayern Munich on Saturday was a devastating blow to Bayern’s hopes of winning the title – they’re now seven points behind Dortmund. The game was evenly balanced, and could have gone either way. Bayern had more possession, Leverkusen broke quicker, and the sides had the same number of attempts. Robin Dutt can hardly take this as a brilliant tactical victory over Jupp Heynckes, but the nature of his side’s shape (whether deliberate or by accident) was interesting, because much of the home side’s play was concentrated down the right flank.” Zonal Marking
“Robin van Persie had two chances and scored two goals, and the gap between the teams is now ten points. Kenny Dalglish rewarded Stewart Downing and Dirk Kuyt for their good Carling Cup final performances with starts. Steven Gerrard was unfit to start, Jay Spearing was used in the holding role, and Jamie Carragher replaced the injured Daniel Agger. Arsene Wenger had fitness worries over Tomas Rosicky, Thomas Vermaelen and Robin van Persie, but all three started – so Arsenal were unchanged from the win over Tottenham last week.” Zonal Marking
Liverpool 1 – 2 Arsenal
“Robin van Persie proved his worth to Arsenal as one of the deadliest strikers in world football scored two goals to snatch victory at Anfield. Despite being second-best for most of the game the Gunners strengthened their grip on fourth place – and lessened the chances of Liverpool catching them – thanks to the prolific Holland international.” ESPN
The evolution of Robin van Persie
“Not a week goes without a prelude to Robin van Persie but every time, he seems to justify it. This week, he single-handedly – well almost as he required wonderful goalkeeping from Wojciech Szczesny and some woeful finishing from Liverpool – earned Arsenal a 2-1 win at Anfield. And again he scored a technically perfect goal. There were some who criticised Pepe Reina for being beaten at the near post but such is his expert technique that he killed the ball dead from Alex Song’s lofted pass to volley pass Reina. His first, however, was a bit more banal but van Persie has made a habit of scoring such goals and that’s significant because a couple of seasons, such a transformation didn’t seem possible.” Arsenal Column (YouTube)
“A stereotypically brilliant match between these two sides ended with a narrow win for Porto, who now have a crucial lead in the title race. Benfica coach Jorge Jesus named the side that was largely as expected. In fact, it was exactly the same XI that played in the 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture. Porto coach Vitor Pereira’s side was very different from that day, however. Marc Janko has since arrived to play upfront, Lucho Gonzalez has returned in the middle, while Djalma played on the left and Maicon was at the back. This was a very attacking, aggressive game that went through various phases and was highly influenced by substitutions.” Zonal Marking
“In an exciting, strange, frustrating and exhilarating match, Barcelona F.C. without the world’s best player overcame Sporting Gijon 3-1 — despite playing half the match with ten men (and a few minutes with nine). I had the intro for this piece all written, in my head. I was going to recall a terrible novel from 40 years ago, a bestseller based on a movie (yes) called Love Story. The narrator of that book asks, ‘What can you say about a … girl who died?’ And had Barca lost or even drawn against Sporting at home, you would have to say that Yes, she’s a goner. But what can you say about a girl who doesn’t die? About a ten-man team that dominates and outscores an opponent, against all odds, because it has to? This one is a love story.” The Offside (YouTube)
“Only the most one-eyed wonder any longer whether this generation of Barcelona are the greatest club team of all time, yet the title has all but been awarded to Real Madrid by complacent default. At this point, Guardiola’s first serious failure to meet expectations, you might expect the knives to be out. Now, with Jose Mourinho delivering what Real Madrid fans could only dream of last year, you might also expect endless jeroboams and prophylactics to be sent his way by his bosses. The reality though, is that Barcelona want to keep the prevaricating Guardiola while Mourinho faces internal struggles, perhaps ultimately forcing him out.” ESPN
“In his tribute to Dutch soccer, Brilliant Orange, journalist David Winter writes of how the Dutch brand of attractive, free-flowing beautiful soccer always seemed to be overcome by a more utilitarian, pragmatic (German) approach. In the history of the game, this isn’t unusual. One of the classic problems facing anyone involved with the game is whether it’s better to play beautifully or to produce wins. Traditionally, the Dutch opted for the former and the Germans and Italians for the latter. (Meanwhile, the Brazilians managed both while the English, generally speaking, struggled to do one.)” Just Football
“Long to reign over us? Stuart Pearce’s grasping of the England nettle in his country’s hour of need has drawn both admirers and detractors, but any comfort in his tenure being extended was always likely to hinge on a positive result. Wanting the job will not be enough. Pre-match statements of intent can only fade into the shadow of defeat. Now, the clamour for Harry Redknapp will grow as a result of a victory from a clinical Dutch team, for whom anything beyond second gear was not required, even when England looked to have fought back for a 2-2 draw.” ESPN
England’s revival snuffed out by the brilliance of Arjen Robben in friendly against Holland at Wembley
“This was a mad end to another mad day in the England madhouse. From a shock choice as captain to a crazy finish, via some alarming naivety of play and an even more alarming sequence of injuries, England’s friendly defeat to Holland contained all manner of dramas.” Henry Winter (Video)
“The World Cup can be a cruel thing. No matter how well the team is doing in the competition, it need not take a bad game, or even a bad half, for them to be eliminated. A bad few minutes can be enough – as Brazil know very well. Brazil’s team in the last World Cup in South Africa may not have been to everyone’s taste, but results were excellent in the two years leading up to the tournament, and at half-time in the quarter-final against Netherlands few would have bet against them. Yet, in a matter of minutes, a 1-0 lead evaporated into a 2-1 deficit, and they were back on the plane home.” ESPN – Tim Vickery
Joachim Low
“Was it really ‘a wonderful defeat,’ as Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote? The supporters in the Weserstadion had certainly shown little leniency with their team at the final whistle, when the Germany players were jeered and booed on their way into the changing room.” SI
Scissors Kick 