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Commentary
UEFA Champions League Draw Complete
After watching today's draw, I wonder to myself, why does anyone watch this thing live? I guess it's nice to see a bunch of old and lauded footballers come up and swirl their hand around a load of plastic balls in a punch bowl...oh wait, it's not at all. There's the awards ceremony for club players of the year (which Inter swept completely—Sneijder was a surprise, but Milito was a shock), but I could simply read about that too. Whatever, on with some draw commentary. [Roll over the table to enlarge] Barcelona have a cakewalk in the group stage. Yeah they have to travel pretty far, but only to play teams happy to be a part of the tournament at all. Arsenal have what appears to be an easy run to the knockouts too, and Bayern and Roma should progress through Group E in that order. Inter's group, with Bremen and
Commentary
Champions League – are we having a laugh?
Commentary
ARSENAL & LIVERPOOL, REVISITED
Eating my Delicious Words as a Snack Hours after the EPL season kicked off, Sean wrote about the Arsenal/Liverpool game. I agreed and disagreed. Let's glance at these teams a week later... Arsenal, capable of the dominance they demonstrated this week, will always scare me with their predictable unpredictability. 6-0 vs. Blackpool was a hearty meal, but they could so easily starve me with a loss or draw at Blackburn next game. The goalkeeper saga continues for the Gunners. What a gossip-mill conundrum! To buy or borrow Schwarzer or Given? My money is on Arsene offering for neither, which could be a mistake. At the very least, please buy another center back, Professor! Someone please explain to me the Arsenal injury of the week! I praised Nasri last week, but now he's out for a month. I also commended Vermaelen, but I booed Walcott and Arshavin after one game. The joke
News
Mourinho really dislikes Benítez
They bickered when they both coached in the Prem. They snapped at each other when Mourinho went to Italy. And now that Benítez has inherited Jose's old Inter squad, the special one has a few thoughts on how Rafa destroyed Liverpool and how he'll do the same at Inter. He also feels sorry for Hodgson. Check out the full text at the Telegraph. I love this guy. “One thing is certain, Benítez won’t do better than me at Inter. Another thing is also true that, should he lift the Intercontinental Cup, he will have only won two games compared to my 13. Therefore it will be my trophy and not his.”
Commentary
Is Man City that Good?
The answer: probably! Though Liverpool looked mostly clueless through yesterday's meeting, it may well have been because City were seemingly everywhere, winning the majority of 50/50 balls, pushing the attack up both flanks and through the middle while meeting limited resistance, and suffocating the Reds' front line on their counter. Yes, Torres is still recovering and clearly doesn't have that explosive speed we're used to seeing from him, and yes the Mascherano drama (with him refusing to play while waiting to be transfered) didn't help at all. But maybe it was more about Liverpool's rigid 4-4-2—that Hodgson employed so well at the cottage—that was their main undoing. Gerrard sitting back and tasked with picking up runners through the midfield is not the best use of the man's talents (and he's no good at it), and Pool clearly have no left back option. Ngog and Torres at the point have absolutely no chemistry,
Commentary
Joey Barton is a Cheap Thug
I've never liked the sack of crap known as Joey Barton, a man most recently in the news for looking to have given a nazi salute after his goal for Newcastle over the weekend. He later explained the motion referred to his shaving off the superstitious mustache he had grown now that his goal scoring drought is over. But if it weren't for some of the displays in the videos below (including the altercation that saw him do jail time—hit "read more" at the bottom of this post), it's unlikely the celebration would've come into question. So vile is the man that suggesting him a nazi just seemed the proper thing to do first.
Commentary
Dembele & Dempsey: Too Many Cooks at Fulham
Fulham 2 - 2 Manchester United Moussa Dembele, a Belgian striker 23 years of age who played for AZ Alkmaa in the Eredivisie, made his first run out for the Cottagers this weekend, replacing Clint Dempsey in Fulham's attack. Dempsey looked lively through the first half, finding space and playing clever balls quickly around the Man United players. He made a couple of poor passes, but his creativity made up for them. Then he was brought out in the 60th minute, replaced by the much, much quicker Dembele. Dempsey has always been a collected player with the ability to continue an attack with some smart passing and intelligent movement in the final third, but compared to many of the athletes around him on the pitch, he's just plain slow. Dembele has speed in abundance, and a fine touch to go along with it. He turns well when receiving the ball