Let's get the party started!

To kick things off, there's a round-up of all the mid-week stuff:

Benfica v Chelsea 1
APOEL v Real Madrid both teams to score
Sunderland v Everton 1 to qualify
Crystal Palace v Doncaster over 1,5 goals
Oldham Athletic v Leyton Orient 1
Aldershot v Bristol Rovers 1
Sheffield United v Chesterfield 1
Marseille v Bayern Munich 2
Milan v Barcelona 2
Schalke v Athletic Bilbao Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to score at any time
Atletico Madrid v Hannover 96 Radamel Falcao to score at any time


Onto the weekend stuff:

Aston Villa v Chelsea (15:00) X at halftime (2.30)

Everton v WBA (15:00) 1 (1.83)

Manchester City v Sunderland (15:00) both teams to score (2.28)

QPR v Arsenal (15:00) sending off (5.00)

Wigan Athletic v Stoke City (15:00) 1 to score 2 or more goals (2.46)

Wolverhampton v Bolton (15:00) over 2,5 goals (1.95)

Ipswich v Barnsley (15:00) 1 (1.62)

Leeds v Watford (15:00) over 2,5 goals (1.90)

Portsmouth v Burnley (15:00) 1 (2.22)

Blackpool v Southampton (17:25) over 3,5 goals (3.00).

Exeter v Colchester (15:00) both teams to score (1.87).

Carlisle v Huddersfield (15:00) X (3.40)

Charlton v Leyton Orient (15:00) 1 (1.56)

Notts County v Oldham Athletic (15:00) 1 (1.92)
.
Swindon Town v Bristol Rovers (15:00) 1 (1.55)

Crewe Alexandra v Northampton Town (15:00) 1 (2.20)

Catania v Milan (17:00) X at halftime (2.20)

Osasuna v Real Madrid (19:00) 2 (1.48)

Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao (21:00) Tello to score at any time (2.28)

Augsburg v Koeln (14:30) 1 (1.96)

Kaiserslautern v Hamburg (14:30) sending off (3.60)

Nurnberg v Bayern Munich (14:30) 2 at halftime and fulltime (2.06)

Auxerre v Valenciennes (18:00) X (3.25)

Sochaux v Brest (18:00) 1 (2.00)

Twente Enschede v Roda Kerkrade (18:45) 1 at halftime and fulltime (1.98)

Feyenoord v NAC Breda (19:45) 1 at halftime and fulltime (1.88)

Benfica v Braga (21:15) X at halftime (2.32)

Dundee United v Dunfermline (15:00) 1 (1.39)

Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała v ŁKS Łódź (14:45) 1 (1.80)

Lech Poznań v Cracovia (17:00) 1 (1.46)

Back in office

And it looks like a pretty busy day, too:


Benfica v Chelsea (19:45) 1 (2.36) [alternatively over 2,5 goals (2.38)]

APOEL v Real Madrid (19:45) both teams to score (2.32)

Sunderland v Everton (20:00) 1 to qualify (1.90)

Crystal Palace v Doncaster (20:00) over 1,5 goals (1.43)

Oldham Athletic v Leyton Orient (19:45) 1 (2.08)

Aldershot v Bristol Rovers (19:45) 1 (2.22)

Terrible day...

...

Blackburn v Sunderland over 2,5 goals
Brighton v Derby County under 3,5 goals
Doncaster v Millwall 1
Leeds v Nottingham Forest 1 [3:7? is that hockey or football? what a freak result]
Peterborough United v Reading 2
West Ham v Middlesborough 1
Carlisle v Preston North End 1
Exeter City v Wycombe Wanderers both teams to score
MK Dons v Leyton Orient 1
Sheffield Wednesday v Walsall 1
Crewe Alexandra v Bradford City 1
Gillingham v Crawley Town over 2,5 goals
Juventus v AC Milan both teams to score
Osasuna v Getafe both teams to score
Barcelona v Granada Messi to score a hat trick

After days like that you can get really disheartened...and that's what trips abroad are for! Well, abroad of sorts that is - I'll be in Edinburgh for a few days, hopefully will get to visit some grounds while there :)
Over and out, at least until Monday that is!

Get well, Fabrice!

Quick round-up:

Everton v Sunderland under 2,5 goals

Tottenham v Bolton 1 at halftime and fulltime [game abandoned due to Fabrice Muamba suffering a cardiac arrest. Everything has been said about this truly horrible event so all I can say is - get well soon Fabrice! Such a young guy, too...this should also be a wake up call for Premier League clubs to introduce more detailed and regular health check-ups which are going to focus on a broader spectrum of things, rather than only player's physical results in a series of standardised tests]

Fulham v Swansea City 1

Barnsley v Reading 2

Blackpool v Brighton over 2,5 goals
Crystal Palace v Hull City X at halftime

Ipswich Town v Peterborough United over 2,5 goals

Millwall v Southampton 2

Watford v Coventry City 1

Exeter City v Preston North End 1

Bournemouth v Carlisle United over 1,5 goals

Accrington Stanley v Northampton Town over 2,5 goals

Aldershot v Bradford City 1

Burton Albion v Torquay United 2

Fiorentina v Juventus X at halftime

Granada v Sporting Gijon sending off

Sevilla v Barcelona Cesc Fabregas to score at any time

Rayo Vallecano v Real Betis over 2,5 goals

Bayer Leverkusen v Borussia Moenchengladbach 1

Borussia Dortmund v Werder Bremen 1 and over 3,5 combined goals scored

Hertha Berlin v Bayern Munich Franck Ribery to score at any time

Caen v PSG 2

Auxerre v Evian Thonon Gaillar 1

Saint-Etienne v Lyon X at halftime 1 at fulltime

VVV Venlo v NEC Nijmegen 1

Feirense v Braga 2

Dundee United v Rangers 1 and over 2,5 combined goals scored

Dinamo Zagreb v Hajduk Split 1 at halftime and fulltime

Terek Grozny v Rostov 1


And a few tips for tonight:

Blackburn v Sunderland (20:00) over 2,5 goals (2.06)

Brighton v Derby County (19:45) under 3,5 goals (1.33)

Doncaster v Millwall (19:45) 1 (2.92)

Leeds v Nottingham Forest (19:45) 1 (1.96)

Peterborough United v Reading (19:45) 2 (2.06)

West Ham v Middlesborough (19:45) 1 (1.76)

Carlisle v Preston North End (19:45) 1 (1.82)

Exeter City v Wycombe Wanderers (19:45) both teams to score (1.67)

MK Dons v Leyton Orient (19:45) 1 (1.57)

Sheffield Wednesday v Walsall (19:45) 1 (1.57)

Crewe Alexandra v Bradford City (19:45) 1 (2.26)

Gillingham v Crawley Town (19:45) over 2,5 goals (1.86)

Juventus v AC Milan (19:45) both teams to score (1.66)

Osasuna v Getafe (19:00) both teams to score (1.92)

Barcelona v Granada (20:00) Messi to score a hat trick (5.50) [just last night Barcelona announced that instead of being 4 goals short of Cesar's all time scoring record, Messi is in fact only 1 goal away...make of it what you will but it looks like they're preparing some celebrations for Leo and want him to break that record at Camp Nou]

17.03 fixtures.

Standard:

Everton v Sunderland (12:45) under 2,5 goals (1.75)

Tottenham v Bolton (17:30) 1 at halftime and fulltime (1.85)

Fulham v Swansea City (15:00) 1 (1.88)

Barnsley v Reading (15:00) 2 (1.98)

Blackpool v Brighton (15:00) over 2,5 goals (1.93)

Crystal Palace v Hull City (15:00) X at halftime (3.30)

Ipswich Town v Peterborough United (15:00) over 2,5 goals (1.61)

Millwall v Southampton (15:00) 2 (2.10)

Watford v Coventry City (15:00) 1 (1.93)

Exeter City v Preston North End (15:00) 1 (2.42)

Bournemouth v Carlisle United (15:00) over 1,5 goals (1.37)

Accrington Stanley v Northampton Town (15:00) over 2,5 goals (1.87)

Aldershot v Bradford City (15:00) 1 (2.26)

Burton Albion v Torquay United (15:00) 2 (2.34)

Fiorentina v Juventus (19:45) X at halftime (2.18)

Granada v Sporting Gijon (17:00) sending off [no odds available]

Sevilla v Barcelona (19:00) Cesc Fabregas to score at any time (2.22)

Rayo Vallecano v Real Betis (21:00) over 2,5 goals (1.93)

Bayer Leverkusen v Borussia Moenchengladbach (14:30) 1 (2.16)

Borussia Dortmund v Werder Bremen (14:30) 1 and over 3,5 combined goals scored (2.85) [bwin]

Hertha Berlin v Bayern Munich (17:30) Franck Ribery to score at any time (2.20) [bwin]

Caen v PSG (18:00) 2 (1.92)

Auxerre v Evian Thonon Gaillar (18:00) 1 (2.18)

Saint-Etienne v Lyon (20:00) X at halftime 1 at fulltime (6.40)

VVV Venlo v NEC Nijmegen (19:45) 1 (3.15)

Feirense v Braga (20:15) 2 (1.57)

Dundee United v Rangers (12:45) 1 and over 2,5 combined goals scored (3.80) [bwin]

Dinamo Zagreb v Hajduk Split (17:00) 1 at halftime and fulltime (2.85) [bwin]

Terek Grozny v Rostov (12:30) 1 (2.22)


There's some really good value to be had, especially the Terek Grozny game - they're fighting to stay up in the Russian Premier League and have been rumoured to go as far as to bribe referees/ players from rival teams. Also, the Spurs v Bolton game should be an easy win for Redknapp's team, with Bolton definitely focusing on 2 crucial games over the next week (Villa away and Blackburn home) and Tottenham in desperate need to turn around the bad run of form. The North London team have not won the FA Cup since 1991 too, so one can assume that with a few Premier League teams already eliminated, Spurs might be looking to add this particular trophy to their cabinet. Finally, Coventry are in absolutely diabolical shape at the moment and Watford have been playing rather well at home, succumbing only to a Ricky Lambert hat trick a few weeks ago.

Messi? Ronaldo? Barcelona? Real? Who cares?

First off, round-up of the Saturday games:

Sunderland v Liverpool X

Wolverhampton v Blackburn both teams to score

Everton v Tottenham over 2,5 goals

Brighton v Portsmouth 1

Nottingham Forest v Millwall over 1,5 goals

Southampton v Barnsley 1

Reading v Leicester 1

Charlton v Notts County both teams to score

Huddersfield v Rochdale 1

Sheffield Wednesday v Bournemouth 1

Wycombe Wanderers v Colchester United over 2,5 goals

Swindon Town v Cheltenham 1 at halftime and fulltime

Torquay United v Bristol Rovers 1

Gillingham v Crewe Alexandra 1

Palermo v AS Roma over 2,5 goals

Malaga v Levante 1

Real Betis v Real Madrid both teams to score

Mainz v Nurnberg X at halftime

Borussia Moenchengladbach v Freiburg 1

Augsburg v Borussia Dortmund Robert Lewandowski to score at any time

Evian Thonon Gaillar v Sochaux 1

Toulouse v Lorient 1

SC Heerenveen v Excelsior Rotterdam 1 at halftime and fulltime

Braga v Uniao Leiria 1 at halftime and fulltime

FC Porto v Academica 3:0

Górnik Zabrze v Lechia Gdańsk 1

Podbeskidzie v Legia Warszawa under 2,5 goals

13/ 27. The 2nd part (with Sunday games) has never materialised due to severe time constraints and also some mixed feelings regarding the Saturday games. I mean, how on Earth are Wolves planning to stay up if they don't score against Blackburn, who have not kept a clean sheet in over 30 games? Same goes for Liverpool's season to be fair, everyone thought "Well, now they've finally won a trophy they will surely mount a serious challenge for that fourth spot, aren't they?" Appears not be the case, with King Kenny proving that the dismissal of Roy Hodgson might have been very, very untimely indeed. In Europe, Moenchegladbach's meteoric rise is slowly losing pace too, now it's 3 games since their last win. Porto is annoyingly disappointing when you need them to score and Górnik nearly produced a fantastic come back after going 0-2 down to Lechia in the first half - which was nothing short of a miracle for Lechia who have scored only 9 goals in 20 games. Yeah, that's NINE goals in TWENTY games.

On a slightly related note, both Messi and Ronaldo have scored a brace each during the weekend's games against Racing Santander and Betis respectively (away from home, too). The debate as to which one of them is better and is thus the best ever seems to be settled with Messi being crowned the undisputed king, best ever in fact. I think it's important to mention the nonsense uttered by Pele on a regular basis concerning Messi still not having earned the status of the best ever because he isn't turning up when wearing the Albicelestes shirt. Well, dear Pele, with all due respect but out of the 1281 goals (according to the FIFA website) you've scored in your career, probably about 1150 have come in the Brazilian league or even it's regional predecessor. That's hardly impressive, given the defences in these leagues are still laughable at best so one can only imagine just how useless they were back in the 50's and 60's.

Yeah, go on, score another one, you're not even half as good as I am, na na na!

Pele-bashing, as amusing as it may sound, is not what I wanted to focus on.

I've been watching quite a few Madrid and Barca games this season - and I urge you to do the same as these are probably the best two sides in Europe in the last 10 or 15 years. Barca's dominant possession is a thing of genius, the fact they keep the ball for a staggering 70.2% of the game on average is a testament to just how well these players understand each other and is a clear message that a succesful club not only can but SHOULD be build on the backbone of a succesful academy (as if Ajax in the mid-90's and Man United in late 90's/ early noughties are not enough). Messi is the center-piece, the man who quite often starts the game out wide but as it progresses he slowly becomes the target man despite still hugging the touchline or playing in behind Alexis Sanchez or Cesc Fabregas. The ease with which he cruises past his rivals and then deftly places the ball in the corner of the net is simply mesmerizing. He makes even the best defenders and midfielders in the world look like a bunch of cones just standing there and waiting to be beaten.

However it's Mourinho's Real that I admire more this season; watching them play brings me back to the days gone by, days when I fell in love with football and just rooted for the team that attacked and wanted to score as many goals as possible. The sheer intensity with which they press their rivals - especially at Santiago Bernabeu - is insane. I'm no Madrid fan but once they step out onto the pitch you just can't fight this feeling inside you, wishing they simply carry on scoring until the final whistle. The moment one attacking move doesn't quite come out and the opponent tries to break away, there will almost instantly be two or three Real Madrid players trying to win the ball back off the poor soul who happens to currently be in possession of the round object. Los Blancos have already scored 88 goals in just 26 games in La Liga this season - an average of 3.38 goals/ game, meaning that if they manage to keep up such ferocious pace they will set a new record for the number of goals scored in a single season. The attacking patterns almost invariably involve Ronaldo, more often than not as the finisher - yet make no mistake, he is so much more than just an Inzaghi-esque figure - who was a poacher extraordinaire (if you will) but a poacher nonetheless. No, no, no, Ronaldo offers a hell of a lot more as he scores with his right foot, with his left, with his head and with his heel; from outside the box and from the closest range imaginable. .               
                    

 .                                       I'm telling you man, I was THIS far away from the goal! This takes some skill, eh?

Having said that I can move to a more substantial point I wanted to make regarding the debate which - as I've observed above - seems to be all done and dusted. Well, not for me. At least it won't be until Messi either moves to another club (preferably to another league, too) or starts playing without Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets/ Mascherano behind his back and without Pep Guardiola on the bench.

We've all seen just how dominant Ronaldo has been in the Premier League. He's scored over 30 goals while being much more tactically constrained than he is at Madrid now (where he is often permitted a pretty free role which, quite obviously, maximises his return i.e. goals) and dominated his markers/ defenders in general, in an unparallaled fashion. He now plays a different game yet he is even faster and stronger than during his United days. He's played alongside an array of incredible players - Giggs, Scholes, Tevez and Rooney to name just a few - but his involement in virtually every significant attacking move at United should not be forgotten.

As laughable as the 'can Messi do it on a windy Tuesday afternoon in Stoke though?' argument is, it has some truth in it. The way I view it is that the 'afternoon in Stoke' can be a metaphor relating to something that runs much deeper than just playing a game of football in horribly adverse conditions (something, I'm sure, Messi would deal easily with); it's about being able to do it as otherworldly well as he does it now WITHOUT the aid of his compadres.

Coming back to the point about Ronaldo - watching him often makes me think that no matter whether it's Higuain he plays one-twos with or if it's Ozil, Alonso or Khedira feeding the ball to him, he nonetheless will do with it exactly what he wants to. Some people say that he doesn't turn up in the big games and it's neither completely true nor false. His performances are now assessed mostly with reference to how many goals he's netted and whenever he doesn't score, many critics will jump ship and say he's been shit (often adding 'yet again', seemingly for good measure). Well, in truth he doesn't score as many against Barca or Inter simply because he'll be marked by defenders better than the ones assuming the left back role in, say, Granada or Levante. He nevertheless creates quite a few chances, is always available and is very active. The fact his shots don't go in might be indicative of a more general negative feeling within the team but blaming him for a lost game is as stupid as it is to praise solely him when Real trash Osasuna 7:1. Football is a team effort and you never win or lose a game on your own.

Just got the 25th goal of the night. Casual.

On the other hand, Barcelona creates this microcosm in which Messi fluorishes. Leo can often be seen tracking back and getting down & dirty fighting for the ball, particulalry in the early stages of the match. My personal interpretation is that he's doing it out of respect for his hard-working teammates, he might as well just stay up there (as he does in the latter stages) and wait for the ball to be passed to him as I think - and I mght be wrong - he is relieved of all defensive duties anyway. What's more important though is the shift Xavi and Iniesta put in every time when on the pitch. Fortunately for Barca they've not both been injured at the same time yet it remains to be seen just how detrimental to the performance of Leo this could prove to be. Not taking anything away from the man, but I'm pretty sure roughly about half assists for his goals come from the two aforementined characters and also the amount of background work in winning the space and drawing the defenders onto themselves - this allowing Messi to roam free, or at least utilise the space cleared up by defenders moving out of position - is quite often overlooked.

Another aspect is the ease with which teams in Spain just bend over and hope the ensuing 90 minutes won't be as painful as what's been inflicted on some of the previous visitors. This is particularly visible when the 'lesser' teams come to either Santiago Bernabeu or Nou Camp with some of the more stubborn sides still thinking it's possible to get a result by just parking the proverbial bus and kicking the ball out. It must be said that Real deal with this a lot better. Even if their rivals set out on a mission of not really crossing the halfway line and trying to kick football out of Madridistas heads, Mou's team will apply such relentless pressure and chase the ball around that after 20-25 minutes the spirits of the opposition will be broken, simple as. This is, in my view, largely down to Ronaldo - even if he isn't the first scorer, his mere presence seems to do the trick in most of the cases (if it doesn't, well, then he goes on to score).

On the other hand Barca quite often manage to break their opponents too, yet first of all they do it in a less emphatic style (almost as if their opponents know that it pays off to frustrate them, unlike Madrid) and secondly, the 10 point margin between the two arch-rivals seems to suggest that there are sides in La Liga who are not that easily torn apart. Of course it would be unthinkable to call Messi a passanger in such matches however there have been instances - like the 0:0 against Villareal at El Madrigal earlier in 2012 - where he was denied the vital space he craves so much (very often by isolating the creative midfielders behind him) and bam, Madrid increased their lead by another 2 points when Barca is left hitting their head against a firm wall. There's probably a host of informative statistical bits which would come in handy now but the larger point I'm trying to addres is that it seems certain teams figured out a way to stop Barca from wielding their expansive play in such a deadly manner by taking care of players who make Messi who he is and thus marginalised the threat posed by the Argentinean. Ronaldo can not be 'figured out' like that, because his game is - not always but for the most part - much less reliant on others.

I know many people could say I'm biased and I don't like Messi; I enjoy his skills and goals as much as anyone else and his record speaks for itself. All I'm saying is, let's not get carried away by the 'Messimania' and wait and see whether he can prove himself in a different setting. Until then, there's a certain Ronaldo character who for a number of reasons can be praised to be equally good, if not better, than Leo.

Weekend 1/2 (10.03)

A number of games for today and tonight. Sorry it's so late, I've had a few things to do over the past couple of days and only got the chance to look at fixtures this morning, shocking I know! So there goes:

Sunderland v Liverpool (15:00) X (3.65)

Wolverhampton v Blackburn (15:00) both teams to score (1.61)


Everton v Tottenham (15:00) over 2,5 goals (2.30)

Brighton v Portsmouth (15:00) 1 (2.08)

Nottingham Forest v Millwall (15:00) over 1,5 goals (1.38)

Southampton v Barnsley (15:00) 1 (1.39)

Reading v Leicester (15:00) 1 (2.32)

Charlton v Notts County (15:00) both teams to score (1.90)

Huddersfield v Rochdale (15:00) 1 (1.59)

Sheffield Wednesday v Bournemouth (15:00) 1 (1.89)

Wycombe Wanderers v Colchester United (15:00) over 2,5 goals (1.81)

Swindon Town v Cheltenham (15:00) 1 at halftime and fulltime (3.05)

Torquay United v Bristol Rovers (15:00) 1 (2.10)

Gillingham v Crewe Alexandra (15:00) 1 (2.02)

Palermo v AS Roma (19:45) over 2,5 goals (1.69)

Malaga v Levante (17:00) 1 (1.59)

Real Betis v Real Madrid (21:00) both teams to score (1.74)

Mainz v Nurnberg (14:30) X at halftime (2.20)

Borussia Moenchengladbach v Freiburg (14:30) 1 (1.57)

Augsburg v Borussia Dortmund (17:30) Robert Lewandowski to score at any time (1.50) [bwin]
.
Evian Thonon Gaillar v Sochaux (18:00) 1 (1.89)

Toulouse v Lorient (18:00) 1 (1.83)

SC Heerenveen v Excelsior Rotterdam (19:45) 1 at halftime and fulltime (1.59).

Braga v Uniao Leiria (18:00) 1 at halftime and fulltime (1.80)

FC Porto v Academica (20:15) 3:0 (7.80)

Górnik Zabrze v Lechia Gdańsk (12:30) 1 (2.00)

Podbeskidzie v Legia Warszawa (14:45) under 2,5 goals (1.58)

Round up and some thoughts on the object of a recent sacking

Weekend games now in technicolour:

Liverpool v Arsenal over 2,5 goals

Blackburn v Aston Villa 1

Manchester City v Bolton David Pizarro to score at any time

QPR v Everton both teams to score

Stoke City v Norwich X at halftime

West Bromwich Albion v Chelsea both teams to score

Wigan Athletic v Swansea City under 2,5 goals

Birmingham City v Derby County 1

Ipswich Town v Bristol City 1 at halftime and fulltime

Millwall v Reading 2

Watford v Burnley over 1,5 goals

Leeds United v Southampton over 2,5 goals

Bury v Huddersfield 2

Exeter v Stevenage both teams to score

Sheffield United v Oldham Athletic 1

Aldershot v Morecambe 1

Oxford United v Swindon Town over 2,5 goals

Palermo v AC Milan both teams to score

Juventus v Chievo Alessandro Matri to score at any time

Rayo Vallecano v Racing Santander 1 at halftime

Barcelona v Sporting Gijon Alexis Sanchez to score 2 goals or more

Sevilla v Atletico Madrid sending off

Bayer Leverkusen v Bayern Munich both teams to score

HSV v Stuttgart 1

Hannover v Augsburg 1 at halftime and fulltime

Borussia Dortmund v Mainz X at halftime 1 at fulltime

Dijon v Montpellier under 3,5 goals

Sochaux v Valenciennes under 2,5 goals

Saint-Etienne v Evian Thonon Gaillar 1

Bordeaux v Nice 1

Den Haag v Heerenveen over 2,5 goals

Lokeren v Westerlo 1

Legia Warszawa v ŁKS Łódź 1
Newcastle United v Sunderland both teams to score 

Fulham v Wolverhampton over 2,5 goals

Tottenham v Manchester United Wayne Rooney to score at any time

Cardiff v West Ham United over 2,5 goals

AS Roma v Lazio sending off

Fiorentina v Cesena 1 at halftime

Udinese v Atalanta X at halftime

Siena v Cagliari 1

Lecce v Genoa 1

Granada v Valencia over 2,5 goals

Real Madrid v Espanyol Cristiano Ronaldo to score a hat trick

Hoffenheim v FC Koeln 1

PSG v Ajaccio 1 at halfitme and fulltime

Ajax Amsterdam v Roda Kerkrade 1 to score 3 or more goals (1.70)

Feyenoord Rotterdam v FC Groningen John Guidetti to score at any time

PSV Eindhoven v Twente Enschede over 2,5 goals

Club Brugge v Standard Liege 1
Basel v Luzerne 1

Gaziantepspor v Istanbul Buyuksehir Pierre Webo to score at any time

Widzew Łódź v Śląsk Wrocław X

Jagiellonia Białystok v Ruch Chorzów X

24/54. I'll blame this mediocre score on Andre Villas-Boas, it seems quite fashionable to blame everything on the man now...





To be quite honest I think sacking him is a big, big mistake on Abramovich's part - obviously the results were far from what he had expected from a manager with such a track record at his previous club (4 trophies in a single season with Porto) but let's be quite clear from the off - AVB was presented with an almost impossible task, i.e. rebuidling the team while winning things at the same time. Much more experienced managers have failed at doing that so it would be unwise to expect the thirty-four year old Portugese to go through the transition period smoothly and without any hiccups on the way. Yet nine managers in only eight years of Roman's reign at Chelsea make you question the man's patience and indeed his knowledge of the game.

Villas-Boas has undeniably made mistakes during his short tenure at the Stamford Bridge. Playing high defensive line that worked so well with Porto simply didn't cut it in the Premier League, particularly when you wish to form it around players like the ageing and injury-hit John Terry or David Luiz who lacks concentration and seems to be tactically inept to the extent that you might question how he's actually made it all the way to Benfica, Chelsea and the Brazil national team. Buying Romelo Lukaku and not really giving him any playing time yet often sticking with Torres (who is slowly but surely becoming the synonim for a fallen footballer) is another decision which can be labelled as questionable at best. Buying Raul Meireles on the very last day of the summer transfer window when Michael Essien was injured for nearly two months at that point (so it might have seemed like a move aimed at directly undermining the position of Lampard, Ramires, Obi Mikel and the newly acquired Romeu) could be criticised from the team-spirit point of view as well. The baffling indecisiveness and failure to adapt when playing the 'lesser' (a term I dislike for many reasons....) sides should also be 'credited' to the man - it's hard to imagine Chelsea under Mourinho or even Ancelotti struggling to beat the likes of Birmingham at home. Then there's Chelsea's inability to keep a lead which possibly stems from some of the players being quite young - just think Mata, Sturridge, the aforementioned Luiz - yet it certainly shouldn't happen when you have  the seasoned veterans like Lampard, Drogba, Cech and Cole alongside the young guns on the pitch.

However, the age thing has clearly played its part in the problems Villas-Boas encountered at the West London club. The alleged conflicts within the dressing rooms that leaked to the press; the apparent altercations at the training ground; finally the infamous falling out with Ashley Cole before arguably the most difficult game Chelsea had to play this season thus far. Looking at it from a neutral perspective I'm under the impression that whenever AVB tried to assert his authority and send a clear message to the old players - some of them the manager's age and others only a bit younger - about dissent not being tolerated, the players took matter into their own hands which, in my opinion, might have contributed to such a miserable run of form. Bosingwa assuming the left-back role in place of Ashley Cole at San Paolo against Napoli seems to be the case in point and a prime example of Villas-Boas attempting at showing everyone who's the boss and the decision spectacularily backfiring, on a number of levels. Other changes made have also been questioned and rightly so; throwing Gary Cahill in at the deep end at Napoli when he only just joined Chelsea a few weeks back, has not yet had near enough time to come to terms with manager's style of play and has never even played at Champions League level being one of them. Of course, it could be argued that AVB had to make a simple defender-for-a-defender swap yet a look across the Channel (and, admittedly, France) to Barcelona where Pep Guardiola moved Mascherano to play in Puyol's position when the latter got injured suddenly doesn't make Villas-Boas' decision so obvious.

Reports about poor old Andre sleeping at Chelsea Football Club premises left me slightly uneased as to just how seriously he might have taking the job. The deed has been done though and there's no more Villas-Boas in West London anymore. If you ask me, I think that if he chooses his next club wisely he WILL bring the goods - he has shown he's more than capable to do well when he's given the unreserved backing of both the players and the off-pitch staff and club administration AS WELL as that most priced of commodities - time. With the supposed interest of Massimo Moratti I would strongly advise the former Porto man to wait a little bit longer though...

ABSOLUTELY HUGE AMOUNT OF GAMES (really)

Cyprus v Serbia over 1,5 goals
Romania v Uruguay over 1,5 goals [Edinson Cavani strikes again]
Denmark v Russia under 2,5 goals
Germany v France over 1,5 goals
Italy v United States over 1,5 goals [first time Italy have lost to the US and also the first time they've lost at Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa]
Poland v Portugal over 1,5 goals [first game at the new Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw as well, the ground looks very impressive:

England v Holland over 1,5 goals [quite a game for a friendly!]

Onto the weekend fixtures and there really is a lot of them this time, I've taken quite a while to have a good look at them so hopefully it'll be around or over 70%.

03.03

Liverpool v Arsenal (12:45) over 2,5 goals (1.88)

Blackburn v Aston Villa (15:00) 1 (2.48)

Manchester City v Bolton (15:00) David Pizarro to score at any time (6.80)

QPR v Everton (15:00) both teams to score (1.86)

Stoke City v Norwich (15:00) X at halftime (2.32)

West Bromwich Albion v Chelsea (15:00) both teams to score (1.75)

Wigan Athletic v Swansea City (15:00) under 2,5 goals (1.78)

Birmingham City v Derby County (15:00 1 (1.52)

Ipswich Town v Bristol City (15:00) 1 at halftime and fulltime (2.76)

Millwall v Reading (15:00) 2 (2.40)

Watford v Burnley (15:00) over 1,5 goals (1.33)

Leeds United v Southampton (17:20) over 2,5 goals (1.94)

Bury v Huddersfield (15:00) 2 (2.00)

Exeter v Stevenage (15:00) both teams to score (1.87)

Sheffield United v Oldham Athletic (15:00) 1 (1.53)

Aldershot v Morecambe (15:00) 1 (1.95)

Oxford United v Swindon Town (12:00) over 2,5 goals (2.18)

Palermo v AC Milan (17:00) both teams to score (1.66)

Juventus v Chievo (20:45) Alessandro Matri to score at any time (1.77)

Rayo Vallecano v Racing Santander (17:00) 1 at halftime (2.52)

Barcelona v Sporting Gijon (19:00) Alexis Sanchez to score 2 goals or more (3.25)

Sevilla v Atletico Madrid (21:00) sending off (3.10)

Bayer Leverkusen v Bayern Munich (14:30) both teams to score (1.76)

HSV v Stuttgart (14:30) 1 (2.06)

Hannover v Augsburg (14:30) 1 at halftime and fulltime (2.82)

Borussia Dortmund v Mainz (17:30) X at halftime 1 at fulltime (4.90)

Dijon v Montpellier (18:00) under 3,5 goals (1.31)

Sochaux v Valenciennes (18:00) under 2,5 goals (1.64)

Saint-Etienne v Evian Thonon Gaillar (18:00) 1 (1.72)

Bordeaux v Nice (20:00) 1 (1.71)

Den Haag v Heerenveen (17:45) over 2,5 goals (1.57)

Lokeren v Westerlo (19:00) 1 (1.48)

Legia Warszawa v ŁKS Łódź (14:45) 1 (1.26)

04.03

Newcastle United v Sunderland (12:00) both teams to score (1.77)

Fulham v Wolverhampton (14:05) over 2,5 goals (1.79)

Tottenham v Manchester United (16:10) Wayne Rooney to score at any time (2.10)

Cardiff v West Ham United (12:45) over 2,5 goals (2.08)

AS Roma v Lazio (14:00) sending off (2.72)

Fiorentina v Cesena (14:00) 1 at halftime (2.08)

Udinese v Atalanta (14:00) X at halftime (2.16)

Siena v Cagliari (14:00) 1 (2.18)

Lecce v Genoa (14:00) 1 (2.18)

Granada v Valencia (17:00) over 2,5 goals (2.00)

Real Madrid v Espanyol (20:30) Cristiano Ronaldo to score a hat trick (7.00)

Hoffenheim v FC Koeln (16:30) 1 (1.66)

PSG v Ajaccio (16:00) 1 at halftime and fulltime (1.80)

Ajax Amsterdam v Roda Kerkrade (13:30) 1 to score 3 or more goals (1.70) [bwin]

Feyenoord Rotterdam v FC Groningen (13:30) John Guidetti to score at any time [no odds available]

PSV Eindhoven v Twente Enschede (15:30) over 2,5 goals (1.75)

Club Brugge v Standard Liege (13:30) 1 (1.87)

Basel v Luzerne (15:00) 1 (1.62)

Gaziantepspor v Istanbul Buyuksehir (13:00) Pierre Webo to score at any time [no odds available]

Widzew Łódź v Śląsk Wrocław (13:30) X (3.10) [bwin]

Jagiellonia Białystok v Ruch Chorzów (16:00) X (3.00) [bwin]