First off, round-up of the Saturday games:
Sunderland v Liverpool X
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.
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?
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.
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. .
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.
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.
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.
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