A note on racism in the terraces

I don't always agree with Marina Hyde's writing, but her piece on the recent racist abuse suffered by Mido is excellent. I was appalled to read about this story, having assumed in my ignorance of the Premier League that racism had been entirely stamped out there, unlike in the terraces of Spain and Italy.

Let me first make it clear that I'm not writing this to target any fan group in particular. This is directed towards all racist idiots in the stands who call themselves football fans, and that includes the Barca ultras who had the nerve to hurl racist abuse at Roberto Carlos (while Samuel Eto'o was on the pitch, no less) as much as Lazio's unsavoury fascist fringe.

The arguments put forward in favour of the drunken idiots fall under these 3 categories:

1. By going out there to play, footballers essentially agree to suffering any abuse the 'supporters' choose to deal out. (The ones who put this one forward are usually incapable of stating it in those terms, but that's whatever intelligence I can gleam out of it.)
   
• This is plainly ridiculous, as it seeks to posit that professional footballers are somehow deprived of the rights enjoyed by every other human being on earth not to be subject to discriminatory abuse by virtue of...what, exactly? They're (over)paid to play better football than Joe Public, and they didn't somehow sign away their own fundamental rights with their contract.
• Futhermore, the supporters pay for the right to watch the game (subject to certain rules of behaviour, just like in every other sector of society), not for any supposed right to hurl abuse. If someone want to pay for the right to behave like animals towards other human beings, I'm sure there are establishments that cater to that sort of thing, but they're not called football stadiums.
2. Related to the first argument is the one that says abusing players is part of football culture, and stamping it out is just one of those moves by the powers that be to further remove real heart and soul from the sport.
• First, no one is depriving fans of the right to call Mido or any other player a fat bastard, or an incompetent wanker, and so on. It's nobody else's problem if certain fans aren't creative enough to sling 'witty' abuse at a player without resorting to racist language.
• Football doesn't exist in a parallel reality. If it's no longer acceptable in the real world, then it's no longer acceptable in the world of football. The sport is not the last refuge of those sentiments that are rightly no longer allowed to be expressed in public, and nor should it be.
3. Lastly: the fans don't really mean it. Look, we've got Muslim/Black/Jewish/Asian players too!
• Believe it or not, the 'some of my best friends are [insert minority]' defence (because that's essentially what it is) was actually raised by the Newcastle supporter interviewed about the incident. I thought we were past the era where people needed to be informed of why such a statement was laughable at best, but apparently I'm wrong.
  
• Futhermore, whether the people hurling abuse mean it or not doesn't matter. The effect is the same: the victim hears the same thing either way. Conversely, if the most vile racist doesn't act on his or her thoughts or voice them, then they are left alone because in general we do not punish people simply for thinking. After all, in those cases there has been no victim. So to come full circle on this point: I don't care if any of the people engaging in racist behaviour in the stands really love ethnic minorities deep down in their soul. The action itself is wrong, regardless of intent.

My usual disclaimer applies: no intention to offend anyone. Although I do have to note that my personal feelings on this subject are particularly strong ones, which is perhaps reflected in the wording above.


(Coming up: Barca news, a farewell post for Thiago Motta, a match report from the weekend, and international news.)

Farewell to Juliano Belletti

In a move that surprised many people, Barcelona rightback Juliano Belletti has been sold to Chelsea for 5.5 million euros.

On the Barca end of things, out of the group of players who were said to be expendable (Motta, Ezquerro and Gudjohnsen being the other names on it), Belletti was the one who would have proved most useful had he decided to stay. But he had very publicly stated his displeasure at losing his starting place to Zambrotta last season, so perhaps a change was for the best.

This is also quite a surprising move by Chelsea, at least from where I'm standing. Mourinho's distrust of attacking fullbacks is well known, and Belletti is nothing if not a defensively dubious attacking fullback.

He'll probably be better than the likes of Glen Johnson, leaving Michael Essien free to return to his midfield duties, but it's hard to see how Belletti fits into Mourinho's big picture. And it's not like he hasn't seen Belletti's defensive problems first hand: the unfortunate rightback scored an own goal in the Camp Nou against Chelsea in 04-05 and his marauding runs forward in the return leg left him stranded upfield, leaving Damien Duff and Eidur Gudjohnsen free to give Chelsea an early 3-0 lead. So my question is: did Mourinho sign him? Or was this more the idea of the sporting director or Peter Kenyon? It will be interesting to see how he gets on in the Premier League.

But back to Barca. Juliano Belletti joined Barcelona as part of the 04-05 revolution that revitalized the team, going on to win La Liga twice. He played more than 100 games and contributed heavily with his effective attacking runs forward to the team's success. I always liked him for that attacking verve, even though as I've already pointed out he is defensively fragile.

During his time at Barca, Belletti also participated in the campaign that saw Barca win the Champions League for only the second time. I think if you ask Barca fans for their most vivid Belletti memory, it would have to be the goal that gave us victory over Arsenal in the final, which was his only goal for the club.


That goal was a personal release for Belletti, who had been relegated to the bench in favour of Oleguer for most of the games during that season and had only come on as a substitute in the final. The look on his face captured on the wonderful photo above sheds some light on what it meant for him personally. For Barcelona, it meant the culmination of a rebuilding process which had finally lifted the club back on top of Europe, 14 long years after the last time.

So the 'hero of Paris' departs. Good luck, Juliano. And thank you.

a few words for Mr Mourinho and Sir Alex

Expect a lot more posts over the next few weeks as my workload lessens. First, the rare Premier League-related comment from yours truly.

Re: Mourinho's latest comments

"My players? I think I have a naive team," he said. "They are naive because they are pure and they are clean. We don't have divers, we don't have violent people, we don't have people with nasty tackles or people diving into the swimming pool. Chelsea are a pure and naive team."

(It almost stands on its own, doesn't it? Just stand back and marvel.)

Oh, Jose. How I have not missed your delusional, barely coherent and occasionally entertaining ramblings and no doubt superb skills of motivation during the off season.

(Also, stop banging on about the goal Luis Garcia scored in the Champions League semi-finals of 2005. The referee was right, and you sound like a conspiracy theorist everytime you bring it up.)

Dear Sir Alex:

I do not presume to tell a man as successful as you have been in the world of football what to do. But surely you - along with every other pundit around - have noticed that your team currently lacks a cutting edge up front?

Whatever the answer is, it's definitely not playing Carlos Tevez at center forward. Carlitos is many things, but a number 9 he is not. Give him a strike partner to play off and he'll perform for you.

By the way, it simply boggles my mind that within United's collossal squad there's not one fit recognised center forward you can play. That can't be right. Frankly, this is getting a little painful to watch, even for this neutral.

Sincerely,

Linda


Next, a few words on the Spanish Super Cup.

Who wants a decent striker?

It seems like a lot of Europe's big names do this season. Some of them have already done their business: Barca with Henry, Inter with Suazo (if that deal sticks), Bayern with Toni, Chelsea with Pizarro, Juventus with Iaquinta. Then there are the big clubs still looking for someone to lead their frontline.

AC Milan

Yeah, they've got a player who used to be the world's greatest striker in Ronaldo, but Inzaghi isn't getting any younger, Gilardino isn't a sure thing, especially in the Champions League and Oliveira's just been useless since his move from Spain. Hence their stalkerish pursuit of Samuel Eto'o, despite the player repeatedly rebuffing their advances. Might I note once again that this behaviour is still on-going from Milan, despite repeated statements from both the club and the player that he is not for sale.

Update: those pesky Milan suits never give up, do they? Here's an article quoting vice president Galliani, who restates his interest despite Barca and Eto'o's frequent 'back off' signals. Geez, they're really like a persistent suitor who can't take no for an answer. Worth reading for the hilarious quote from Laporta about the possible personal consequences for him if he sells Ronaldinho.

Fortunately, coach Ancelotti is more realistic and further contends that they'll be fine even if they don't sign anyone.

Those Sheva rumours never go away, but since Chelsea are apparently suing people for saying that he's going to go back to Milan now, I'm guessing that's not likely to happen. The latest seems to be a rumoured bid for David Villa, which is highly unlikely to come off given who they're dealing with. Valencia are a big club, and for the most part they are not a selling club. Especially not their best player.

Arsenal

Having lost Henry, the search for a striker would seem to be a priority for Arsenal. The most persistant rumours involve Nicolas Anelka, now of Bolton. Given his past history with Arsenal, opinion seems to be divided on the appropriateness of his return. He's certainly a talented player, but I don't know what Bolton think of selling and therefore won't comment on the likeliness of this transfer. (Tabloids of England, Spain, and Italy need to 1) learn to fact check, and 2) learn to say 'we don't know'.)

While we're on the subject of Arsenal, there's a lot of debate about the club's future going on right now. I wouldn't presume to comment, but I did like this Guardian piece about Cesc Fabregas and his potential leadership role within the team. Fabregas is probably the former Barca youth player I would most like to come back and play for us again someday, but I wish him a long and successful spell at Arsenal before that.

Update: here's another Guardian piece, this time on the possible replacements for Henry.

By the way, AS (otherwise known as Real Madrid's mouthpiece in the same way that Sport is Barca's) is apparently perpetuating the ridiculous rumour that Arsenal were offered Eto'o in a swap deal with Henry and refused in favour of getting the cash. Really? 1) Barca are not keen to offload Eto'o since he's the president's pal, and 2) you're telling me Arsenal wouldn't like getting a younger, and also a proven big name striker if they had to lose Henry? 3) There's no way anybody would be prying Eto'o off Barca's hands with just the 17 million pounds we eventually paid for Henry.

Lastly, here's Henry's last interview given to Arsenal's official website. It's clear he's trying to make the farewell as amiable as possible, and who can blame him for that given his many years of glory at the club? He's probably given his best years to Arsenal, after all.

Liverpool

It has been said many, many times by various commentators, but Liverpool really need a top-class striker. They've got a great, world-class midfield, a solid defence that I envy, but watching the Champions League final their lack of a lethal finisher was painfully apparent. And no, much as I like Peter Crouch, he is not that man. Same applies to the hard-working Dirk Kuyt.

Given Rafa Benitez's Spanish connections, everyone assumes he's going to sign Fernando Torres of Atletico Madrid or David Villa. I already covered the unlikely nature of the Villa deal above.

Like the other clubs covered here, Liverpool has its own draws because of the nature of the club as an institution of European football. They're also apparently very popular in Spain, so that's convenient if you're trying to sign Spanish players. I bring this up because I've see the photo in which Fernando Torres' captain's armband slips and the words 'You'll Never Walk Alone' are revealed to be printed on the reverse side. The Torres to England rumours do seem to run every summer, but this time I think it might be for real. His buy-out clause is not prohibitive and though he loves the club, their failure to clinch an UEFA Cup spot this season has got to be galling. If he wants to go, the club have said they will not stop him. He's not had a great season, though. Maybe Benitez would bring the best out of him.

Update: Atletico claim that they've received no bids for Torres so far.

Liverpool have also been linked to Diego Forlan of Villarreal. The thing about Forlan is that his club have a very clear transfer policy regarding him: meet his buy-out clause. Luckily for any would-be suitors, it's not prohibitive. I'm just not sure Liverpool are actually interested.

Manchester United

They've already done several pieces of big, flashy business in this transfer window, but apparently they're not quite done. Given the injury-prone nature of Louis Saha, the effects of cruel age on Ole Gunnar Solskjær and the possibility of Alan Smith leaving the club, United could do with someone to lead the line.

There have been tons of rumours linking them with many different strikers, but as none of them seem substantial so far I won't mention any. One note on the Fabio Quagliarella saga - Udinese don't seem very keen to sell now that they own the player entirely, so that would seem to be that.

Real Madrid

I thought Real would have been set next season, at least striker-wise, but apparently Ruud van Nistelrooy's injury sustained on the last day of the season has got those in charge of the Bernabeu thinking otherwise. Actually, we're not sure who is going to be managing Real next season just yet, so that could be a barrier towards any significant moves until the Capello-Schuster mess is sorted out. Then again, transfer policy at Real - as it is at other Spanish clubs - isn't entirely dictated by the coach.

Van Nistelrooy's injury isn't very serious, but it is the type of muscle problem which is prone to recur, and while he's still a fine player he isn't getting any younger. The same could be said for Raul, although his value is of course greater than his tangible contributions on the pitch. Higuain and Robinho are talents rather than established names, and Cassano has just fallen apart completely. They won the title with this group, so they may not necessarily need anyone new, but they've got to be planning for possible injury problems next season.

They've been persistently linked to Barca's departing striker Javier Saviola in the Madrid press. If those reports are true I would personally be very unhappy, but then Barca did make the decision to let him go. Where he goes now is his own business.

By the way, I was quite impressed with this Capello interview. Ignore all that talk about Kaka, since everyone knows that already. The way he spoke about why people might not have warmed to his style (which says to me that he 'gets' Spanish football) and his pride in Real's title triumph and the fans' reactions was quite refreshing. You might not agree with him, but at least he says what he thinks and doesn't whine a lot about refereeing.

Welcome to Barca, TH14 (and other player-related news)

Looks like it's official.

Details later when he's presented - surely the signing who's going to take Cruyff's no.14 shirt? Henry has confirmed the transfer himself in a new L'Equipe interview. Hat tip to Gunnerblog for the translation:

I still have to pass a medical on Monday. But yes, I have chosen Barcelona. I am going to sign there for the next four seasons...for the football they play, their history, their stadium. For Frank Rijkaard, who I grew up watching.

Oh, Thierry. Sweet talk us some more.

There's a fairly nice - to me, but then I'm not an Arsenal fan - 'open letter' from him explaining his exit which is available on the Sun's website. (Not linking to that scumbag 'newspaper' but the BBC article I link to does summarize it.) For an Arsenal fan's perspective - which quotes from the above mentioned letter - East Lower has an interesting and very eloquent - far more eloquent than I would be if my club's talisman left - take on the matter.

By the way, Barca vice-president Ferran Soriano - who seems to conduct all our transfer business - wants you to know that there was no tapping up involved:

He...insisted that Barcelona waited for the green light from Arsenal before making a move for the France international..."We don't want to point a gun at anybody," said Soriano. "We have good relationships with the European clubs."

Henry himself is actually still recovering from a groin injury, but he is apparently conscious of getting fit and prepared in time for the start of Barca's pre-season. Which is nice.

You have to admit, Henry and Barca are a good match, if only because he's got 1) that die-hard romanticism about playing football with a certain style and swagger that we have (which makes others label us pretentious bastards), and 2) an appropriately large chip on his shoulder to match the club's collective identity.

I mean that both ironically and sincerely. Some of the qualities that makes Barca sometimes seem smug and annoying to others are the same ones that endeared me to the club in the first place, and I'm not going to apologize for that. But I can poke fun.

With Henry, I suspect it will be the same. He's got a way to go to erase the 'only women dive' remark - not to mention the rest of his post-Paris CL final rant - from my mind, but he's made a good start. (Until then, I reserve the right to laugh at that French NT story about his 'melon énorme'.)

All joking aside, I'm not really sure how to feel about this. The impact of this transfer on the makeup of the squad, not to mention the way we play is going to be huge. Firstly, Gudjohnsen and Ezquerro are almost definitely following Saviola out the door. Most likely Giuly would be too, although his exit would only be tangentially related to Henry.

Second, how are Barca going to play next season? I can't see a way of playing Henry, Eto'o, Ronaldinho and Messi at the same time without sacrificing our midfield advantage and completely destablising the team in a way that will make the already leaky defence even worse.

Apparently the way club management have worked out is that Barca have about 55 games a season and things will be okay if each of the four end up playing about 35 of those. I don't really see how that would work. Who is Rijkaard going to leave out in a big Champions League game? Or I suppose Messi loses out because he's the most junior star amongst the four, but that would be incredibly stupid from any point of view if Barca want to hold on to him at all.

The third option is to offload one of Ronaldinho and Eto'o. (We all agree that Messi is going nowhere, right?) I've said from the beginning that if we gain Henry and lose Eto'o, I think we'd come out worse off, but this is a real possibility now. Sure, Eto'o's relationship with Laporta can pretty much ensure his continuity at the club, but as he himself acknowledges, he has enemies both within and outside the club, and they could make his lift difficult to a point where he is forced out.

Personally, I wouldn't want this to happen, as I believe Sammy to be a crucial player for Barca's successes in the last few seasons who is still very young and has loads more to offer the club. Plus, unlike the whiners (Edmilson - who's just had a knee operation, ruling him out for six months and won't be playing for Barca again - and Deco), he's ready to accept the newly imposed squad rules:

In any place where there is a group there are rules to respect. We have been fortunate that Frank and Jan have given us some freedom or, in other words, responsibility. If they believe that the rules have to be tightened, then it's probably right.

Ronaldinho himself has remained neutral on the subject of Laporta's statements, merely stating that he's not been 100% this season because he's exhausted. Which is fair enough, really, and I'd argue that he's done a lot for the team during the season despite being obviously unfit and a somewhat destabilising influence. Have a nice holiday, Ronnie, and we'll hope to see the old you back next season.

While we're on the subject of resting, and players who need it, how about our beloved Captain Caveman? In a clear demonstration of the absurdity of flying all over the world playing far too many meaningless friendlies, Carles Puyol suffered ligament damage in Barca's friendly match in South Africa and will be out for 3 months, missing the entire pre-season and about a month of league action, not to mention a couple of Champions League clashes. He was operated on as soon as possible, and here's what the doctor had to say:

...he has already said that the recovery time must be shorter, because he does not want to spend as much time without playing.

Vintage Puyol. Not the first time he's been desperate to rush back from injury to help the team, and probably not the last. What a guy. I hope his recovery goes well and that he's back with us soon.

Champions League, Premiership and La Liga musings

(Still far too busy, but how can I resist commenting on the state of affairs at such an exciting time?)

Liverpool v AC Milan

It's funny, isn't it, that perhaps the less fancied of the four sides in the semi-final actually made it through. Remember when everyone was frothing at the mouth at the idea of 3 gigantic Man Utd-Chelsea clashes in the space of a month to decide masters of England and Europe? At the time, I quietly suggested to some friends that the idea might be a bit much for those who were not fans of the two clubs involved, all respect for their achievements aside. Needn't have worried.

Predictably, Rafa Benitez proved once and for all that he does indeed have Jose Mourinho's number (what a shame he's not sharing the secret with the rest of us), while less predictably the decorated veterans of Milan proved they still had enough in them for one more shot at glory.

Milan and Liverpool are second and third on the list of most European Cup final appearances respectively. They've both had their periods of utter domination over the competition and countless unforgettable moments, sometimes at each other's expense.

No doubt Milan and their supporters are eager to erase the memory of the 2005 final by triumphing this time around. It won't be easy, but if they do pull it off, then Kaka has perhaps gone some way to earning the title of 'best player in the world' now being bestowed on him - sometimes by admiring English journalists after his display against Man Utd. And of course it will be a worthy parting gift for some of the veterans.

As for Liverpool, another European crown would probably make up for the disappointments they've suffered in the Premiership and domestic cup competitions this season. And they deserve it, having made their way past not inconsiderable obstacles in Barca and Chelsea. It's not a complete team, not yet, but Rafa Benitez is the master of making the whole far greater than the parts, and that is entirely admirable.

(As a sidenote, how pleased am I that Mascherano's talents are finally being recognised and given a platform to shine again? He's surely earned his spot on the national team back.)

More later, when the game is imminent.

Manchester United - Champions 06-07

Congratulations are in order for a tremendous achievement, given the opponent they were up against. Whatever the disappointments of this season (and I do understand the Champions League complex, given that Barca's record in the CL is just as spotty), this was probably more than even Sir Alex dared hope for at the beginning of the season.

As for young Cristiano Ronaldo, is he the best player in the world? I don't think so, not yet. But he's damn good, and he's done more than anyone could have predicted this season. He'd have a much easier time of it in a league like La Liga, which is accommodating towards players of his type, but staying at United was absolutely the correct decision for his development. I started out quite leery of him because of the diving, but the way he's weathered the abuse and grown from the experience has made me reconsider.

A few weeks ago, I thought United had choked and all the good work was going to go to waste. But they proved to be made of stronger stuff, even with players dropping like flies with injuries. Where they go from here is a tricky question, and transfer window activity or lack of from them is going to be interesting to watch.

Chelsea

I've read a fair few post-mortems of their Premiership ambitions now, written by supporters and by journalists, and one theme stands out. They all talk about pride. The pride with which Chelsea fought back in the second half of their game against Arsenal, the pride displayed by Mourinho after the game.

Even with my extremely unfavourable view of Mourinho, I still have to respect that pride, and the fighting spirit associated with it which he has carefully cultivated in his team. This season events have achieved the remarkable feat of both deepening my dislike of him and nudging me into defending him. Having said all that, and therefore hopefully given you a balanced view of my opinion of Mourinho, I would like to put to you my response to all the protestations of moral victory:

If your team ethic is built on winning at any cost, both literal and figurative, then what happens when you don't win?

That is my question, stemming from my personal view of what football is, and what it isn't.

(Edit: the ever admirable Kevin McCarra of the Guardian makes the same point in his article today with greater eloquence.)

Having said that, I would like to pay my respects to a player I don't actually like, but can't help admiring. Everyone pillored him for not adjusting immediately to Premiership football, but he's been immense this season, and anything Chelsea achieve will owe a lot to his contribution. Yeah, I'm talking about the same guy who I slated in my Barca v Chelsea match report as a diving thug - Didier Drogba, of course. He's still got that unpleasant side, and that's why I've yet to warm to him, but lord can he play. Tireless and a force to strike fear into the hearts of defenders all over (but especially Phillipe Senderos, the poor man), Mourinho probably wishes his entire team were as hard-working as Drogba and the equally indispensable Michael Essien.

West Ham

I completely understand the outrage of those who are angry that they're going to benefit from an illegal transfer without any punishment where it hurts, and the associated unfairness towards the other clubs battling relegation, but my sentimental side wins out in this one: seeing the fantastic rapport between the Hammers faithful and Carlos Tevez swayed me. If he does manage to lead them to survival, that debt of faith he now owes them would be repaid. And he's doing a wonderful job of it so far.

La Liga Title Race

I'm going to have no nails by the time this is over. As things stand with five rounds to go, the consensus seems to be that Barca, Sevilla (4 points off) and Real Madrid (2 points off) are all still in it, while Valencia only have an outside shot of closing the 6 point gap between them and the top. The fixture lists of the top 4 look remarkable similar, with matchs against moderately tricky teams like Recreativo, Espanyol and Zaragoza dominating. It's practically impossible to call, to be honest.

It's going be a matter of who blinks first. Ahh, the drama.

Barca

We've been getting results, sort of, but we've also been lucky to be playing the bottom of the league these last few weeks. Form is not quite all there, which is quite worrying. We're reliant on our stars producing their moments of magic for the game-winner, and our master goalscorer finding the net when we need him to.

In the last two seasons, Samuel Eto'o has been crucial in the title run-in. When the team seemed to be out of form and running out of steam, he would pop up and score that all-important goal to ensure the points. It's an unfair burden to put on his shoulders, given his injury complications this season, but isn't it funny how a player who missed 5 months of the season through injury could still end up making the most important contributions?

Actually, if you think about it, it's really not. Some members of the squad have been immense this season, others not so much. But that's for the end of the season. Right now, no one should be thinking of anything else other than working to secure the title. I live in hope.

Premiership: a defence of Benitez and Mourinho (!)

It's a bit odd watching the fireworks in the Premiership from the point of view of a neutral, but perhaps that gives me the benefit of some unbiased insight - which makes the whole thing seem at times utterly ridiculous.

Liverpool

Oh, man, Liverpool. I feel terrible for Luis Garcia - his season is pretty much over, which sucks on its own, but now a triumphant return to Barcelona in February isn't going to happen. It's easy to say that an enormous goal threat in European competition has been removed from the tie, but Luis was a part of the Barcelona youth program. When he was playing for Barca B, that team also contained current club captain Carles Puyol, current third captain Xavi, and Gabri Garcia (now of Ajax) amongst others. They won promotion to the Spanish second division in 1998, relying amongst other things on goals scored by Luis, made by Xavi. So there's an emotional connection there, and I'm sad he's going to miss the match.

For those criticising Benitez, remember he's not in an easy position. I have a lot of sympathy for him, despite the fact that you have to place some of the blame for a defeat like the latest on the coach. After all, Arsenal had 6 shots on goal and scored 6 goals. That's not acceptable from the defence. That said, and I know this is not a popular opinion right now, those who say that he should have concentrated on the Carling Cup as their last realistic chance of silverware are mistaken. Remember how everyone said that Manchester United had merely won a consolation for other failures in the League and the Champions League when they won it last season?

Benitez has to worry about a good finish in the Premiership, preferably automatic qualification to the Champions League for next season (which is not going to be easy, obviously) and start thinking about the tie against Barca. Being out of cup competition might actually help in that respect, since their fixture list is now a lot lighter than say, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd or Barca's.

(Speaking as a Barcelonista, I can't help but worry that these two defeats against Arsenal only makes Liverpool more dangerous in the Champions League: after all, if it's their last shot at silverware this season and they've got their backs against the wall, we all know how Benitez's team can rise to such occasions.)

He's spent a lot of money, some of it on players who haven't worked out, but doesn't that happen to everybody? The problem he has had with the Liverpool board seems to be that while he gets a reasonable sum to splash around, having a 40 million dollar transfer kitty can feel very different when you need 3 world-class players to complete your team or 8. Obviously the quality of players who do end up coming are going to suffer for that. Think about it - other than Xabi Alonso, how many other proper bidding wars have Liverpool won for a truly world-class player in the last 3 seasons when up against the other great clubs of Europe?

When not everybody in your squad is ready to give performances that don't shame the shirt they're wearing, (and taking injuries into account) some important players are going to end up playing too many games. It surprised me to read that some of the Liverpool team had played every game this season, given his famous preference for rotations, but it was inevitable. It's simply not physically possible, especially given the English season, for anyone to do that through the whole season. So Benitez is within his rights to rest key players.

Comparative statistic: no Barcelona player has played every game this season, nor in the previous one. Mind you, we did lose a cup game 4-2 (away to Zaragoza) when Rijkaard rested Puyol last season, which demonstrates the perils of rotating key players, but it's simply something that has to be done for practical and physical reasons.

It's hilarious to read about people criticising Benitez's attitude and aptitude towards the domestic cups. Have people already forgotten that he won the FA Cup last season? And then there are those who say that he had nothing to do with the miracle in Istanbul. Ever heard of the phrase 'game-changing substitutions'?

Chelsea

Regular readers (if there is any such thing) will know that I don't like Jose Mourinho very much. But I have to say, I feel bad for him right now. He's in a very difficult situation in regards to suspensions and injuries, and for me he's handled it as well as he possibly can. Every game he seems to have key players suspended (Makelele and Ashley Cole for the next game, for example) not to mention the impact losing John Terry has had.

At Barca, we know how you feel, Mou. People say that it's his fault the squad isn't deep enough, but a 20 man squad is hardly small. Barca have a 22 man squad, which I think is plenty - that's not a big difference. Mourinho's being hammered about the lack of quality back-up, but how many top class players are willing to sit on the bench waiting for a starter to get injured, regardless of the money? Is the irony not lost on those who persist on this point while going on about how criminal it is that the likes of Wright-Phillips are rotting on the Chelsea bench? So if he does dare to get some high quality substitutes, he's wasting talent?

Mourinho's aura as the perfect manager is shattered, there's no doubt about that. The number of duds in the current squad leads one to conclude that he's not the most astute shopper in the transfer market - either that, or he has no control over transfers, like a Spanish club coach. Neither are empowering images. But nevertheless, I don't think he's down and out just yet. Besides, he can hardly be blamed for the uselessness of the Chelsea youth system in producing players who are good enough to cover for the first team.

This is probably the only time you will ever see me defending Mourinho. If he ever turned up in La Liga I'd probably contemplate suicide. But really, people. Be reasonable. Piling on is unseemingly.

At least we didn't lose (again)?

Barca were held to a 1-1 draw by bogey team Atletico Madrid in the last La Liga game of the year, leaving the champions 3 points off leaders Sevilla with a game in hand. Not a bad league position considering how badly we miss Eto'o (and how leaky the defence is right now).

As for the game itself, I always thought we were going to lose because it's Atletico. They were the only side to beat Barca at home last season. Enough said. Then I looked at the squad list and was even more certain - Sylvinho suspended, Gio, Edmilson and Marquez rested, Zambrotta injured (in addition to long-term injuries Eto'o and Messi, of course). No left-backs, plus a frontline and midfield in desperate need of rest (how many games has Iniesta played without rest in such a short period?), in addition to a Ronaldinho who only got one training session before the game thanks to the FIFA World Player of the Year presentation in Zurich - something of a recipe for disaster, I thought.

And then I saw the starting 11 - Oleguer at left-back (WTF?), no Giuly. Kind of crazy, but it almost worked. And then poor Thuram got injured, so Motta had to play center-back, which was almost as scary as seeing Oleguer at left-back. Credit to the Catalan, though, he insisted on playing despite being injured and did a pretty good job.

We have got to stop conceding cheap equalisers - not that Argentine wonderkid (and 'new Messi') Aguero's strike was cheap, nor for that matter Drogba's. You would expect a team like Barca to be able to hang on to a 1-0 advantage, though, even if we're pouring forward in attack instead of sitting back. After all, that's how we got to the Champions League final.

The most infuriating aspect of the draw has to be Deco and Ronaldinho both getting booked for whining to the ref. It's behaviour unworthy of two great players, and bad for the team as a whole as the bookings will lead to both being suspended for the first game of the new year. No Deco and no Ronnie against Getafe - never an easy game to begin with. Thanks, guys.

Actual non-sarcastic thanks must go to Ronnie, too, for that cracking free-kick. Jet lag, what jet lag?

crocked strikers update

For your reading pleasure: an interview with Samuel Eto'o at ESPN Soccernet, where he offers his thoughts on a variety of issues, including how much he misses playing, Zidane's assertion that Eto'o should have won World Player of the Year, his pal Thierry Henry, the Premiership and his own recovery. Good stuff as usual, from a man with 'the brutal honesty of a Speak Your Weight machine in an American shopping mall' (TM Sid Lowe).

According to local media, Eto'o is as good as his word and has been working his socks off to recover quickly. Just don't overdo it, Sammy!

Lionel Messi - the original, one and only - also did an interview with local paper Sport, translated by the good folks of lionelmessi.org. He talks about the importance of Frank Rijkaard, his mentor Ronaldinho and reveals amongst other things that fellow Argentinean international and long-time friend (from his U20 days) Pablo Zabaleta, who plays for city rivals Espanyol, visited him almost everyday when he was stranded at home on crutches for a month. Aww, good to see that bitter city rivalry doesn't come before Argie solidarity.

Messi will return to Argentina tomorrow for the later stages of his recovery. Hopefully he has learned from his last experience and will not rush his comeback this time.

Lastly, former Celtic and Barcelona great Henrik Larsson has began training with Manchester United. I'd like to take this chance to wish Henke every success in his time at United. Here's hoping he leaves Old Trafford a hero, just as when he left Celtic Park and the Camp Nou.

Champions League draw reaction: Barca-Liverpool

Let me make one thing very clear from the start: I have a lot of affection for Liverpool, some of it stemming from their Spanish connections and some from their semi-mythical status. By the latter I mean the rich history of the club, both triumphs and tragedies, and of course the way they earned their place in European Cup folklore in the 04-05 season. They may not be the richest club around (pending that takeover), or the most successful in the Premiership, but in my mind they do have a place in people's memories that is not easily taken away. Please bear that in mind as you read on.

the match-up

All I'm reading from British press is how Barcelona are no good right now without Eto'o, so they're ripe for the plucking by the fearsome might of Liverpool, who will no doubt win. Because...just because. It's kind of pissing me off.

Personally, I didn't want to draw Liverpool, because as I said above I have a lot of respect for their history, the wonder of Anfield, their shrewd coach - a former (and current?) Madridista who is no doubt relishing this chance to put Barca in their place - and their team play. They'd be very hard to break down, and almost impossible to overcome at home. Plus, historically they've had great results against Barca, who haven't beaten Liverpool or even scored against them at home (!) in recent years. However, the biggest blot on that record is the most recent meeting between the two sides, when Barca won 1-3 at Anfield (!) before drawing at the Camp Nou in the second group stage of the old Champions League.

By the way, to those busy polishing up Rafa Benitez's excellent record against Barca while he was Valencia coach: he never faced this Barcelona. (More embarrassingly for us, we really don't do well against Valencia in general, especially at home.) His last season in Spain was also Frank Rijkaard's first. Valencia won at the Camp Nou during his awful start on the job, but they were beaten at their home ground later on in the season, just another statistic in the wonderful run a patched-together Barca managed to put together to finish second that season, above Real Madrid.

Of course, the threat that Benitez poses is best illustrated by the fact that Valencia won the title that season, by being organised, by rotating - basically all the same things he's doing in Liverpool. But the point remains that this current Barcelona is a different animal.

(For example, we managed to get knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Celtic in that season, while in the season after - following the great reconstruction of the squad - we became the only team to have beaten the Scottish side at home in European competition - a record that still stands.)

favourites?

In my opinion, Liverpool are favourites, but a lot of that comes from the fixture list for the two sides before each tie. Sure, Liverpool have to play Manchester United, but Barca have to visit Valencia (never easy or fun, plus they're title contenders - this is a game I'm already writing off as a lost cause) before the first leg, and Sevilla (who have a perfect record at home so far, and may very well be ahead in the table by then) before the second leg.

Last season, the massive lead Barca had in the league by February allowed them to concentrate on the Champions League and rest players in the Liga ties. If it weren't for those CL games, Barca would have won the title much earlier - as it was, they limped over the finish line a bit, drawing far too many games they should have won instead around March-April. (An illustration of the ease with which the title was won in the end: there were 12 points between Barca and Real, despite Barca all but throwing their final 2 games.)

But this year none of the Spanish sides have that luxury. In fact, the only team I can see with that advantage so far is Lyon. Maybe Inter will have pulled away enough by the end of February too, but who knows with them.

Having said all that, come on - Barca are hardly quaking in their boots and suffering from an inferiority complex (although if you compare our European record, maybe it would be justified), given our recent form and the prospect of having Eto'o and Messi back by the first tie.

If we have at least Eto'o back, I believe Barca are capable of getting a result at Anfield, if we play at our best. That said, keeping a clean sheet in the first leg will be of supreme importance (ah, that pesky away goals rule), perhaps even more than establishing a good lead (which we're unlikely to do - I'd be pleased with 1-0).

Benitez - who has certainly set out his stall psychologically by making some very strong comments, which you can see on Liverpool's official website, (by the way, Rafa, Valencia aren't our bogey team - that dubious honour goes to Atletico Madrid) unlike the comparatively warm and fuzzy 'it'll be a fantastic encounter!' from the direction of Barca's official site - claims that he thinks the sense of complacency which shackled Liverpool against Benfica last season (personally, I thought it was more an inability to score at that point in the season) is creeping into Barca.

Point taken if you're talking about some of the fans, who really need to realize that Barca haven't exactly been playing perfectly for patches of this season, but I doubt Rijkaard will allow it to gain headway with the players. If anything, our perilous situation in the Spanish league means that we do have to be constantly on our toes, looking over our shoulder with respect for the threat posed by other teams. That said, if Barca do play with a sense of complacency and lose, then they will deserve to.

more press criticism

I've really got it in for the British press today, haven't I?

A typical tactic: seizing on Barca president Laporta's random comments about the Beatles instead of the part where he admits that Barca were not favourites to win the tie, and that they had to be humble in order to get a result. Laporta's not that much of an idiot.

While we're on the subject of the press - and idiots - Clive Tyldesley is trying to be one. Both part of the press and an idiot, I mean.

His article on the draw is the finest example of ignorance of European leagues by a pundit I've seen in a while, and I've had to endure commentary from the likes of Tommy Smyth of ESPN. Points that made me laugh: his suggestion that Real Madrid have greater squad depth than Barca (are we talking about the side with only one proper playmaker here?); saying that Valencia are in a similar position to Villarreal at the same point in the last season; that sucking in your domestic league is somehow going to help you win the CL; and last but definitely not least, that Bayern Munich are a 'handy' third in the Bundesliga and therefore well positioned (I think they're a lot more used to being a 'handy' first and probably not too pleased that they're not up there, Clive).

But it's not all bad: Kevin McCarra of the Guardian gets it right, as he almost always does. (Except when he called Chelsea's games with Barca this season 'pleasing'. For who? Everyone was angry about something by the end of that mess.) Good balanced analysis, including that point about Benitez and Rijkaard's tenures I made above that most people are missing.

more reactions

Here's Samuel Eto'o's take:

"I still don't know when I will be back, but barring no surprises, I will be there for Liverpool," he stated.

"Liverpool is a difficult opponent, but I like them."

Frank Rijkaard was trying to focus on the pesky Cup final he has to prepare for:

"I am not thinking about that now," he said. "I am concentrating on the final here. Liverpool is a strong team, with a great history, but I am not thinking about it."

By the way, Deco's (fairly astute) assessment of the draw:

"I didn't spend too much time worrying about who we might get drawn against because we finished second in our group and we knew we'd be facing a top team. Liverpool are a strong side and they are going to make things very difficult for us, particularly in England. We have to win at home, even if it's only 1-0. At the very least we have to keep a clean sheet."

(Deco's a pretty fun interviewee. Here's his response to the question "what would it mean to Barcelona to win the FIFA Club World Cup?"

"In Europe it's seen as a fairly important competition if you win. But if you lose, then it's really important.")

a final (pleasant) thought

Whatever happens, at least it has promise to be a more peaceful tie than Barca's last couple of outings against English teams, or rather team.

A tribute to the quiet Dutchman: Frank Rijkaard

There will always be those who doubt Rijkaard's talent as a coach, because of his previous record, because he has such fantastic players to work with. But one does not have to look far to see where many coaches have tried and failed with a team of mythical talent - in fact, you only have to look 1 point down the league table. Of course, I refer not to the utilitarian, almost Chelsea-like (but that's another post) Real Madrid of today, but to the excesses of the past 3 seasons. Once upon a time it was unfathomable that a team possessing the genius of Zinedine Zidane, the deadly finishing of Ronaldo, the creative instinct of Luis Figo - you get the idea, I could go on for a bit - could play so badly and fall to opposition of much lesser pedigree. But genius players are also human beings. The art of managing a great team is, in my opinion, two-third man management and one-third tactics.

Reasonable people can disagree about Rijkaard's tactical prowess, but there's no doubting the fact that his man-management skills are impeccable. Having struggled in PSG with a coach who did not know how to handle him, Ronaldinho's greatest tribute to Rijkaard's worth is perhaps the claim that

"Frank Rijkaard understands me perfectly."

Deco reckons that the Dutchman is the perfect manager for Barcelona. And here's Lionel Messi, with ultimate proof of the players' support of the coach:

"I owe everything to Rijkaard. Let me put it this way: if I hurt myself for him, I would not feel the pain."

Both Sammy Eto'o and Ronnie have celebrated goals scored this season by running to Rijkaard on the touchline, and both celebrations were curiously timed. Eto'o's came after rumours of a rift between him and the coach, and Ronnie's when the talk was all about the possibility of Rijkaard leaving Barca to coach AC Milan or the Netherlands NT. I've already quoted Ronaldinho on Rijkaard, but the most telling thing Eto'o - one of Barca's most important players, as demonstrated by how much we've struggled without him - has said that reflects on Rijkaard is his typically blunt assessment of the reason for Barcelona's success. In his own words:

"Do you know what is Barcelona's big secret? There are no [expletive deleted, use your imagination] in our dressing room."

To put that in context, he was talking about the politicking that sometimes occurs in squads where certain players will refuse to pass to certain other players in games for personal reasons. This was allegedly the case with Michael Owen at Real Madrid for a while. On the Barca side, there were some rumours at the beginning of last season that Xavi did not get along with Van Bommel and therefore did not want to pass to him in games. Now, the rumour itself is obviously insane because 1) everyone would notice if Xavi suddenly stopped passing to one of his fellow midfielders considering how many passes he makes per game and 2) Van Bommel scored his first goal for Barca off a Xavi pass not long after this rumour was bandied about. But anyway, it illustrates what Eto'o was talking about.

The fact that the squad is so harmonious (even if you think all the talk in the press about how happy the players are is all PR, we have probably the lowest public bust-up/argument rate in the Spanish top flight) is a great tribute to Rijkaard's ability. Apparently he doesn't like a big squad because it becomes hard to keep everyone happy where playing time is concerned - a concern well illustrated with poor Lilian Thuram's frustration at not playing regularly, and that of Henrik Larsson's before him. But Rijkaard has shown that he can minimize the number of fringe players in a squad where there are pretty much 2 men for each position. Everyone plays, everyone contributes to the results. Just one example - Gio and Sylvinho probably have one of the more unique job-sharing arrangements around, covering the left-back position between the two of them without any problems.

He shows great concern for not only the talent of a potential signing but also their personality, and how that will contribute to the mix. Hence the signing of Gudjohnsen and Thuram. Gudjohnsen is perhaps not the best goalscorer we could have bought, but he is a great squad player and would never poison the atmosphere - very important when the first choice forward is a man as brilliant and slightly unhinged as Sammy Eto'o. In the same vein, Thuram took over the role of Larsson - to be a calm voice of experience, a role model of professionalism for a young team. (Both were - are - also excellent, classy players, of course, but that's the other side of it.)

You could argue that in contrast to Real Madrid's aging galacticos, many of whom had won everything in sight already, Barcelona's young team, hungry for glory, would have been easier to motivate. But after winning the league title in 04-05, and starting the 05-06 season at a stroll, many in the press speculated that the stars - particularly Ronaldinho and Deco - no longer had the hunger to win more titles. (This is slightly ridiculous in the case of Deco, a man who will never stop chasing victory, glory and recognition as long as he lives - a drive only equalled in the squad by Eto'o. Perhaps he was starting to expect to win too easily.)

Anyway, Rijkaard dropped Ronaldinho and Deco for a potentially tricky away fixture, causing a small earthquake in the Catalan press. It was all done peacefully - 'rotation' being the word used - and nobody complained in public, but that didn't stop the wild speculation. The team won 1-4 without them, and both were great in Barca's Champions League fixture after that league game. The rest, as they say, is history.

What about this season, then? No-motivating-needed Sammy Eto'o was struck down with injury (the most important of a clutch of unlucky injury problems), Ronaldinho struggled to find form, Deco started brilliantly then sunk into a bad patch, the new signings were bedding in far too slowly and Puyol was being plagued both by physical problems and emotional anguish. The team played so slowly at times it looked as if we were going the way of the galacticos.

Call me whatever you like for having this kind of faith in such an unfathomable man, but I always thought Rijkaard could whip them back into shape. Not that I expected him to bring out the stick instead of the carrot, but whatever works. Barca may not be playing quite as brilliantly as they were at this stage last season, but then think about the injury situation. As one bright spark at the Guardian pointed out, what would Manchester United look like if Ronaldo was out for 3 months, Saha for 5 and Solskjaer for 6 weeks (well, okay, that's not a hypothetical - poor Ole.)

Or say, if Chelsea were missing Drogba for 5 months and Robben for 3. How about a closer to home comparison - if Real Madrid had Van Nistelrooy out for 5 months and Robinho for 3. That's the kind of situation Barca are in at the moment, but having qualified for the knockout rounds of the Champions League (just) and remained on top of La Liga (just) so far, it's not going so badly. That's down to the way the players have responded to the situation, but a lot of the credit for that also has to go to Rijkaard, for the way he's cultivated that mindset.

And how does one motivate a group of players who have more than 100 trophies between them (no kidding, and this is only counting major tournaments, league titles and cups)? In the most important match of the season so far against Werder Bremen at the Camp Nou, Barca flew out of the blocks, had 5 clear chances inside 20 minutes, scored 2 and had the game wrapped up. This was a bit of a surprise given that, as Giuly admitted a while ago, "the team have gotten used to starting badly." Not this time.

Even more importantly, in the second half the team had the confidence to sit back and absorb pressure for 45 minutes, secure in the new-found knowledge that what has been at times a leaky defence this season would not concede. That was something new, too.

What was in Rijkaard's team talk to inspire such a reaction?

Take it away, the greatly improved Eidur Gudjohnsen:

"Before the game, the manager just said to enjoy it. What happens, happens but he said to imagine the people who dream of playing in front of 100,000 fans and to experience a fantastic night like this."

Not exactly Queen Elizabeth I before the Spanish Armada, but Rijkaard's unique grasp of the psyche of a great player - which he was, not too long ago - ensured that he knew exactly what to say.

Does that mean I have to follow ManU for 3 months now?

By now, everyone and their dog probably knows that Henrik Larsson - one of my favourite players and probably one of the most beloved and classy players still active in top flight football - is going to Manchester United on loan in January 2007 for 10 weeks during the winter break of the Swedish season. Congratulations to ManU - what a clever piece of business.

When I first saw this news, I felt sad. Irrational, I know. But I think I got a taste of what the Celtic faithful felt like when Larsson showed up in a Barcelona kit, although of course their depth of feeling would be stronger, given what 'Henke' means to them.

From a Barcelonista's point of view, I will say this - the club management better have some good news about Sammy Eto'o's injury that they're keeping from us, otherwise they've messed up, because they were the ones who were first linked to this sort of deal. Barca won't be short of strikers in January, but a man who can play on either wing or as a center forward, all to excellent effect, would be an asset for any team - as he showed in his time at the Spanish club. Plus, on a purely selfish note, I miss watching him play.

To those who doubt his ability to play in the Premiership, you only have to look at his performances for Barcelona. (For those who need reminding, my tribute post to the great man covers most of it.)

Here's Barca coach Frank Rijkaard's comments on the move:

"I have to congratulate the player and the club. He is a great player and he deserves it; he demonstrated it here and I hope everything goes well for him".

As usual, I agree with him.

He's just won the Swedish Cup with his hometown club Helsingborgs, adding to an impressive collection of trophies and gifting them with qualification for the UEFA Cup. At 35, my only concern would be that he's lost a bit of his old pace, and as everyone keeps saying the Premiership is a fast league. Still, finishing and tactical intelligence doesn't go away with age.

One caveat, though - Henke won't be happy to sit on the bench and wait for one of the first choice forwards to get injured. There won't be any drama because Larsson is the consummate professional, but make no mistake, he will be trying to force his way into the starting line-up. It's in his nature to despise rotation, even while never complaining about it. (Kevin McCarra of the Guardian has a good article about the subject.)

I sincerely hope that he has a great time there and leaves ManU with a medal or two in his pocket, although of course not at Barca's expense. Oh yeah, those who are saying he'll sign a permanent deal at United? Never going to happen. This is Larsson we're talking about - a man who knows just when to make his exit.

Barca v Villarreal and the day's other action - the brief version

Barca 4-0 Villarreal

More comprehensive match report to come, but for now, the quick version - keeping in mind that these two are my first and second teams, respectively.

thumbs up
Ronaldinho. Simply the best. He now has 50 goals for Barca. And leading the scoring charts in Spain, no less.

Here's Villarreal's Argentine keeper Barbosa on his second goal:

"At least I will appear in all the shots of that goal," he said sheepishly.

"When he received the ball, I had no idea that he was going to try 'la Chilena.' [what South Americans call the overhead kick] This is the first time I have played against him, and the truth is that he has had an absolutely gigantic game."

thumbs down
Bookings for goal celebrations. After a goal like that? Are you kidding me?

thumbs up
Andres Iniesta. If Ronnie hadn't scored that wondergoal, people would be talking about his volley.

More goals in this season than his previous ones put together - and only a couple of months in. So far this season he has 3 goals in the league, 2 goals in the Champions League, and 4 assists (all in the league). Brilliant stuff in general. Thank God he didn't go to Real Madrid.

(This is really hard for me as Xavi is one of my favourite players ever, and he's playing well, too. But in this form Iniesta must start if he's not too knackered to. Rijkaard knows that. If only we had the same wonderful selection headaches up front as we do in midfield.)

By the way, that wrist-kissing celebration after his goal in Sofia was apparently in honour of his girlfriend Anna (awww). He did a bit of club-badge smacking this time around, which from him - been with the club since he was 12 - is only fair enough.

In the last few seasons, an Iniesta goal celebration would be a collector's item, since it was so rare. This season he's scoring so often that he's going to have to start putting thought into them.

thumbs down
You know, if he were say, Brazilian and pretty enough to do ads for Armani (instead of an appearance that earns him the nicknames Draculinho and Casper), the football press would be drooling over 'the next superstar' or something like that endlessly right now.

thumbs up
Gudjohnsen scoring again.

thumbs down
Gudjohnsen going down far too easily for the penalty. If he was pulled, it was a very little pull. Seriously, stop it. You can't blame the ref when the player is the one doing it.

thumbs up
That second half display.

thumbs down
Giuly remarking the other day that Barca are now used to starting badly. That's not something you want to get used to, especially against top teams.

thumbs up
A great team performance from Barca, full of hard work and determination but also good football. Pretty much everybody played well. Complacency, what complacency?

thumbs down
As for Villarreal...well, I'll let their classy coach Pellegrini take it:

"It was an even game before the penalty. After Barca took the lead with the penalty it affected the mind of our players, and they took their opportunities then. Perhaps we didn't play well after going down 0-1, but that has nothing to do with Riquelme not being there. But Villarreal do seem like a different team without Roman."

A fair post-match assessment, without any whining or ungraciousness. Good stuff. That last sentence is especially true. Come on, Roman, your team needs you, and they need the real you.

thumbs up
Having phrases like 'great display of attacking football' associated with Barca again. I'd almost forgotten what that felt like.

thumbs down
Wishing that the phrases associated with Villarreal after they beat Inter last season would come back.

quick comments on other matches

thumbs up
Real Sociedad. Finally off the bottom of the table with their hard fought point away to Atletico, although they still haven't won in the league and may very well be back on the bottom after this round finishes. They are looking better, especially in defence.

thumbs down
Atletico Madrid. Just...what? How?

thumbs up
Paolo Maldini. What will Milan do when he retires?

thumbs down
The Milan strike force might as well go on strike, for all the goals they've been scoring.

thumbs up
Tevez's performance for West Ham.

thumbs down
Him storming off in a huff after being substituted. Carlitos, you can do that after you've scored 10 goals in the Premiership.

thumbs up
Gareth Southgate, Martin O'Neill, Steve Coppell, and Chris Coleman, for their (mostly) gracious acceptance of the fact that the referee is a human being in their post-match interviews. It's nice to see so much common sense breaking out.

thumbs down
Jose Mourinho. He's already started complaining about referees, and Chelsea hasn't even lost to Manchester United yet.

Quote of the day

"Gourcuff could be my Messi. Yes, Ronaldinho has Messi and I have Gourcuff!"

From the one and only Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, commonly known as Kaka. Okay, man. Whatever you say.

The State of AC Milan and a rant about the big teams

Poor Milan. By which - for once - I don't mean Inter. They just can't catch a break. While results in the Champions League have been satisfactory, they're only a few points off the relegation places in Serie A. The size of the gap between them and leaders Inter (22 points) means that they can't even blame the points deduction for their league position. They've simply not won games.

And now injuries are mounting up too. The latest is that Dida will be out for 2 to 3 months. His substitute is the Australian Kalac who you may recall dropping a clanger in Australia's game with Croatia which nearly costs the Aussies qualification for the knockout rounds.

The likes of Maldini and Gilardino have been coming out to defend the team and say that things will improve, while even their frightening overlord president Berlusconi (whose name I can never spell, sigh) have been saying nice things about a team whose results must really be annoying him.

Everyone blames their problems on bad luck. That's BS, if you'll excuse me for saying so. It's sad when teams dominate matches but fail to capitalize, but it's also no one else's fault but your own. Happens to the best teams - watch any goal-less draw Barca were involved in last season (there's not that many to choose from), or Manchester United's loss to Celtic, or Real Madrid's recent home loss to Celta. I could go on. But there's no point in people moaning about it when it happens. Sure, it would be nice if the side that played more football actually won the game, but there are other things to take into account. Think about it from the 'smaller' team's perspective. They deserve some reward for their organisation and their labours, as long as they don't play like thugs. Counter-attacking football has its moments of beauty.

I've gotten off topic here, but to summarise the point of this little rant: If you - you in this case being a 'big' team - dominate a match but don't score enough goals to win it, then it's your own damn fault. Stop blaming everything from the referee to the Feng Shui.

what a weekend of football results around Europe!

An amazing weekend in terms of results as the league leaders of Germany, Spain, France and 2 of the English big four stumbled in their respective leagues. Congratulations are in order to plucky Cottbus, who held Werder Bremen to a 1-1 draw; Deportivo, who battled out a 1-1 draw with Barcelona; Rennes, who beat Lyon 1-0 with the dismissal of their captain and star midfielder Juninho; West Ham, who upset Arsenal 1-0, and last but certainly not least Spurs who beat Chelsea 2-1, as captain John Terry was sent off.

There were also unexpected defeats to Real Madrid, who went down 2-1 at home to Celta and Milan, who lost to Atalanta, but I no longer consider the latter to be in the Serie A race at all, so that's that. Congralutions also to Sevilla who now go top of La Liga, one point clear of Barcelona off the back of their win over Osasuna - more about that in my La Liga round-up to come.

I know many of these results were born of controversial refereeing decisions - or at least the managers will say so, Wenger, Mourinho and Ancelotti alongst those who have already started complaining. Some of them are even correct to do so. But as Frank Rijkaard said before Barca-Chelsea, it's the loser who complains about the result. When the rub of the green goes against you - and it usually doesn't go against a big team, we all know that - that's sad, but ultimately you can't blame the match officials for everything.

A related question is whether Champions League fatigue is one of the reasons for this. I think there's probably a good case for it - Chelsea can be forgiven for being a bit exhausted both emotionally and physically after that epic battle against Barca, and so on. It's interesting to note that Manchester United, who rested several starters and lost their CL game against Copenhagen, went on and won their weekend Premiership game.

In conclusion, it's good to see several of the big leagues opening up a bit. There are real title races going on now in most of the big leagues - maybe not France, as Lyon's lead is far too big, but definitely Germany, Spain, Italy and even England. Good to see.


Currently working on: that 'state of affairs' post about Argentina, and one about Barca's little rabbit, Javier Saviola. And of course a La Liga round-up.

The Football Press: the bad

I was going to write a post saying nice things about the few good football journalists around, but two recent offerings from the normally quite sane Guardian Football pages has ensured that I'll start my 'the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' series about the football press with the bad.

First, this incredibly over-the-top piece about just how depressed David Beckham is and how much his life sucks right now at Real Madrid. I'm not the biggest Real or England fan, but I've never had anything against Becks. He's honest, he's hard-working, he can still whip in a mean cross and he's great at set pieces. The Real supporters love him, as much for the grit as anything else. He's still England's best passer, as far as I'm concerned.

What John Carlin writes about Beckham's status at Real this season is fairly accurate. What I find distasteful is the crowing 'ha, look at him now' tone. Witness the last sentence:

If Beckham did not realise it before, he does now: you can be rich and handsome and famous and have three healthy children and a beautiful wife, but you can also be sad.

To which I can only say - what did Beckham ever do to you? To put that quote in context, here's this gem, which commits one of the most irritating sins a football journalist is capable of. That is, sprouting bullshit about a player or coach's mental state and claiming to know their deepest thoughts from their body language or clothes or something else equally inane (e.g. the handwringing about Wayne Rooney before he stormed back to form).

But his eyes said much more than that. The booking was merely the pretext, the occasion for venting a steaming churn of bottled-up feelings. There was anger and frustration, but there was sadness, too, and hurt. Towards those - such as the new Real coach, Fabio Capello - who have scorned him; towards himself for having lacked the foresight or self-knowledge to leave sooner; towards life, for being cruel.

I have no words. Well, a couple. Did he perhaps read Beckham's diary? Or better yet, look so deeply into the Englishman's anguished eyes that he read Beckham's soul?

Moving on. The subject of my second rant involves two of my favourite young Argentinean players, Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, so I'm not unbiased. I do need to start by saying that the piece by Amy Lawrence which sparked this particular rant isn't actually that bad. It's a balanced assessment of West Ham's problems, and well worth a read. But it is very useful in reflecting an alarming trend in articles about the Hammers' problems. Very sensibly, Amy writes:

But maybe it is madness to judge the Argentines on their performances thus far.

Let me think. How about...YES. Yes, it is. Even more insane, though, is the insinuation, bordering on xenophobic, that the arrival of the Argentineans is the direct cause of the club's problems. Let me emphasize that. Direct cause, meaning they are personally to blame.

The reason I mention xenophobia is the tone of many articles - go on, have a look for any article about West Ham's problems, they're all similar - which seems to go like this: 1) West Ham was great when it was all traditionally English, 2) these dirty foreigners came in, 3) they threatened the Englishness of the club and 4) now everything's gone to hell, it must be because of the foreign influence.

The far more likely explanation that Amy touches on is second-seasonitis. There's also the suspicion that many of their key players from last season simply haven't shown up this time.

One other suggestion favoured by pundits is the takeover speculation having unsettled everyone at the club. I can see how that might work in the case of the training and coaching staff, but not the players. How many footballers give a toss who their boss is? Barcelona won their first Spanish title in 6 years during the 04-05 season while a full boardroom war was going on, while Real Madrid went on a great run during the second half of 05-06 even though they had 3 different Presidents during that time.

Lastly, these guys are 22 years old. They're not the most worldly or experienced players around, certainly not enough to turn a club's fortunes around by themselves. Neither of them speak English - Carlitos even had trouble mastering Portuguese when he was in Brazil, so it's going to take him a while. Neither has started more than 3 matches for the Hammers so far. Carlitos is nowhere near form, or even fitness, while poor Mascherano...I'm not sure he knows what he's supposed to be doing out there. Watch the way he played for Argentina in the World Cup, and you'll see why he was so highly rated, but none of that so far. Pardew is a crowd-pleaser: when people said the Argentineans were the problem, he stopped using them. Didn't make a lick of difference.

It's very frustrating for me personally, because I hate to see young Argentine talent have their careers stall overseas (see also Cavenangi, Fernando and Saviola, Javier). It's even more annoying when 2 young men completely new to the country and everything about it get blamed for a whole club's incapability.

I'll end with this:

Burkinshaw feels Tevez and Mascherano could enjoy similar success, but only if people are more patient with them.

He explained: "They are already writing these lads off, (saying) they shouldn't be here any longer and get rid of them.

"They haven't had a chance have they?"

Sensible words from the man who bought Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa to the Premiership.

On a related note, when your opponent bites you in the middle of a football match, how is it possible for you to be painted as the bad guy?

Argentine Player Watch

It's a return to writing about something cheerful - my regular feature keeping an eye on how Argentinean players are doing in various European leagues.

The much-maligned Julio Cruz was the hero for Internationale, scoring both goals as they beat Spartak Moscow 2-1 at the San Siro. I say much maligned because you may remember him as the player Argentina coach Jose Pekerman subbed in for Hernan Crespo against Germany in the World Cup, to no effect. A lot of people believe that Messi should have been used instead. I don't think that's what Pekerman got wrong at all, as Cruz was taken along to the World Cup to be Crespo's substitute, so it was a straight swap. Besides, if the substitution did happen, it would have left the hated Messi-Tevez strike combo, which as we've seen so far does not work at all.

In any case, I felt that Cruz was unfairly maligned, since at 32 years old it was sure to be his last World Cup, and he had more than earned an appearance by becoming Internationale's top scorer for the 05-06 season despite making mostly super-sub appearances. An uncomplaining hard-worker, his attitude about the whole situation was excellent, so it's great to see him get off to a good start this season by saving Inter's ass in the Champions League, at least for another game.

In other striker related news, my favourite Argentinean target man Diego Milito of Real Zaragoza is now joint top scorer of the Spanish League with 5 goals in 6 rounds of football. I think he actually missed a couple of matches due to injury, as well, which makes it even more impressive. In the absence of Eto'o for most of the season, I'd love for Milito to become top scorer this season, as long as he refrains from scoring a hat-trick against Barca again, of course. Although he's perfectly welcome to knock 4 past Real Madrid in the same match as he did last season. I've argued for his inclusion in the Argentinean National Team enough times to sound like a broken record, but there's no reason why he shouldn't be involved.

Lastly, this is from a couple of weeks ago, but the Guardian's occasional Argentine columnist Marcelo Mora y Araujo - who translated Maradona's autobiography into English, by the way - wrote an excellent piece about the situation of Tevez and Mascherano at West Ham, including a nice little interview with Mascherano in which he comes off as nice a person as ever.