Barca Bottling, Benitez Conceding, Benzema Brilliant
I have to tell you by Sunday afternoon I was exhausted from all the football I watched beginning Saturday morning. As planned, I took in the second half of the Everton vs. West Brom match and was pleasantly surprised to see an entertaining half of football by an Everton side that by all accounts looks to have a stranglehold on a UEFA Cup spot.
After that I watched the Middlesbrough thumping of title pretenders Liverpool. How does a squad travel to Madrid and thoroughly dominate for 90 minutes of Champions League football and then look so inept against a relegation fighting Middlesbrough? This blog came out strong in defense of Rafa Benitez last week. That post was written out of love and sincerity for Rafa. But the dude does not know how to compete in the EPL. Liverpool will finish 3rd or 4th and I believe they will watch Chelsea come within 5 points of winning the title.
Guus Hiddink has that team humming right now. Had Wigan equalized under Scolari that team would have folded and accepted another draw or worse given up all 3 points. Instead, they battled to the end and moved up to 2nd in the table. I can picture Chelsea winning the rest of their matches with 1-0 or 2-1 scorelines. Hiddink makes them the most likely English side to win the CL.
Think about it: He was able to take a less talented PSV Eindhoven side to the semi-finals. Now all he has to do is motivate a bunch of over-paid aging players that think they will revitalize their careers in Italy next season. What better way to prove to AC Milan that 32 is the new 24 than to win the CL?
Look at what is going on in Spain right now: Barcelona are bottling it. Just over a month ago I thought they were the surest thing in Europe to win a league and CL double. Scoring at will, controlling the midfield, keeping attackers as far away from Victor Valdez as possible (the weakest link on the team). And now they're only 4 points clear of Real Madrid!
What a match on Sunday. At 2-0 I was certain this was going to be a 4-1 or 5-1 Barca thrashing. And then the match really heated up and by the final whistle I was standing in front of the TV with nervousness watching two clubs I could care less about. That is what is great about football.
And I still had the Inter Milan vs. Roma match to soak up. Hernan Crespo and Luis Figo look like two players that could go forever. Crespo has never been a Mourinho favorite but I thought he was wonderful at Chelsea during his brief stint there. We all know how devastating he was for AC Milan and now at Inter when he gets a chance he seizes it. Not that long ago you could have made the argument that he was one of the top 4-5 strikers in the world. Kind of a shame this guy's career will come to a close and not many people will appreciate how terrific he was.
Manchester United won the Carling Cup on a penalty shoot-out and I couldn't care less.
The player that impressed me most this weekend was Karim Benzema. Slumped on my coach, spent from all the weekend's action I still managed to take in Lyon vs. Rennes. Benzema was great fun to watch. He is so clearly a class above everyone in that league. His pass that led to the Lyon goal was brilliant. He was all over the pitch. I think he'll end up at Real Madrid.
If Real Madrid do not sign Ronaldo - and I don't think he's leaving Man United - they will bring in Benzema to partner with Huntelaar. This will be the start of officially phasing out Raul - still and effective player but the club needs to start thinking beyond this legendary player.
I'm not totally sold on Huntelaar yet but he's scored some goals and looking more comfortable. If Benzema can make a smooth transition to Spain that partnership could be the future of football.
After that I watched the Middlesbrough thumping of title pretenders Liverpool. How does a squad travel to Madrid and thoroughly dominate for 90 minutes of Champions League football and then look so inept against a relegation fighting Middlesbrough? This blog came out strong in defense of Rafa Benitez last week. That post was written out of love and sincerity for Rafa. But the dude does not know how to compete in the EPL. Liverpool will finish 3rd or 4th and I believe they will watch Chelsea come within 5 points of winning the title.
Guus Hiddink has that team humming right now. Had Wigan equalized under Scolari that team would have folded and accepted another draw or worse given up all 3 points. Instead, they battled to the end and moved up to 2nd in the table. I can picture Chelsea winning the rest of their matches with 1-0 or 2-1 scorelines. Hiddink makes them the most likely English side to win the CL.
Think about it: He was able to take a less talented PSV Eindhoven side to the semi-finals. Now all he has to do is motivate a bunch of over-paid aging players that think they will revitalize their careers in Italy next season. What better way to prove to AC Milan that 32 is the new 24 than to win the CL?
Look at what is going on in Spain right now: Barcelona are bottling it. Just over a month ago I thought they were the surest thing in Europe to win a league and CL double. Scoring at will, controlling the midfield, keeping attackers as far away from Victor Valdez as possible (the weakest link on the team). And now they're only 4 points clear of Real Madrid!
What a match on Sunday. At 2-0 I was certain this was going to be a 4-1 or 5-1 Barca thrashing. And then the match really heated up and by the final whistle I was standing in front of the TV with nervousness watching two clubs I could care less about. That is what is great about football.
And I still had the Inter Milan vs. Roma match to soak up. Hernan Crespo and Luis Figo look like two players that could go forever. Crespo has never been a Mourinho favorite but I thought he was wonderful at Chelsea during his brief stint there. We all know how devastating he was for AC Milan and now at Inter when he gets a chance he seizes it. Not that long ago you could have made the argument that he was one of the top 4-5 strikers in the world. Kind of a shame this guy's career will come to a close and not many people will appreciate how terrific he was.
Manchester United won the Carling Cup on a penalty shoot-out and I couldn't care less.
The player that impressed me most this weekend was Karim Benzema. Slumped on my coach, spent from all the weekend's action I still managed to take in Lyon vs. Rennes. Benzema was great fun to watch. He is so clearly a class above everyone in that league. His pass that led to the Lyon goal was brilliant. He was all over the pitch. I think he'll end up at Real Madrid.
If Real Madrid do not sign Ronaldo - and I don't think he's leaving Man United - they will bring in Benzema to partner with Huntelaar. This will be the start of officially phasing out Raul - still and effective player but the club needs to start thinking beyond this legendary player.
I'm not totally sold on Huntelaar yet but he's scored some goals and looking more comfortable. If Benzema can make a smooth transition to Spain that partnership could be the future of football.
Labels: Carling Cup, European Football, Hernan Crespo, Karim Benzema
posted by Anonymous at 8:41 AM
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