The Round Football Column 11.24.08: 168th Edition - Premier League Review, Great Brazilian Goals and More

Posted by  on 11.24.2008

Cristiano Ronaldo isn't as good as he thinks he is, the big four couldn't hit water on a boat, and Jose Mourinho can sleep like a baby. One Click Away.

It's been a long time, people. The reasons are irrelevant, so let's back on it with a look at the favourite to receive the Ballon d'Or next week.

The Aston Villa v Man. United game was yet another example of how Cristiano Ronaldo is still a deeply flawed footballer. He was absolutely terrible and void of the balls needed to give United all three points.

This all-gloss-but-no-product performance isn't a one off. During Arsenal v Man. United game he was petulant, wasteful, lazy and Gael Clichy owned him throughout.

Against Celtic and Brazil (in a friendly for Portugal) he was incensing the crowd and opposing players with his spiteful attitude, surprisingly dark aggression and meaningless showboating. The Brazil players lamented his tackling and addiction to grabbing throats, while the Villa fans saw him trudge of the pitch signalling his status as the world's number one. Well, he has a funny way of showing it.

At The Emirates everyone was absorbed by a truly all-time classic match, but it wasn't hard to miss his horrible demeanour shining through again. The whinging, the arm throwing and the petulance. Just horrible.

When Thierry Henry was the best player in the league from 2002 to 2006, opposing fans would give him standing ovations, put his name and number on the back of club shirts, and rarely boo. Imagine him getting the sort of hated reaction from fans that Ronaldo receives at every away ground. Even putting the Henry example aside, it wouldn't happen to Messi, Aguero, Kaka or Torres today.

Coming out and saying he should fill the top three spots in the Ballon D'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards is just ridiculous. His stats are insane and there's no arguing the fact that he's gifted. For all he's done in 2008 he deserves these gongs, but not as easily as he makes out. Iker Casillas helped a far-from-perfect Real Madrid side win La Liga, and then he won Euro 2008 with Spain. Rio Ferdinand won the Champions League and Premier League, and became the best centre-back on the planet in the process. Ronaldo's lack of appreciation for these achievements is excruciatingly self-indulgent.

Either way, for Ronaldo to pre-accept them with such little grace is pathetic. The Roma and Chelsea Champions League goals were superb, but in the latter game he was quiet for the remainder and missed a penalty that only John Terry stopped being the biggest story of the year. Plus, playing well at the Bridge, Emirates and Anfield is still on his to-do list.

Despite his incredible stats and achievements, he still doesn't compare to Henry in the time period mentioned above - or Ronaldinho around the same time. Even today, there's a strong argument for Sergio Aguero, Lionel Messi and Kaka being superior players. He would never hear that, though. He believes his own hype and then some.

The goals and assist numbers are frightening, but there's still something missing. Every time Rivaldo touched the ball during Barcelona's clash with Arsenal at Wembley in the late nineties, yours truly felt his heart race a little faster. At the Emirates two weeks ago, Ronaldo didn't force such nerves.

Cristiano Ronaldo can present his trophy cabinet and stats to the world, but he's not the planet's finest player.




What an awful week to come back. None of the big four managed a goal. Not one.

The Liverpool draw looked even worse than Chelsea's, for some reason. Up until their trip to The Emirates on December 21, Rafa's side have a fixture list that goes beyond the realms of simplicity. You looked at it and thought there was little to no chance they could fail to win every game. It never quite works as simple as that, though, does it? It serves them right for putting one of the league's in-form players (Alonso) on the bench, and continually giving the ball to the £20.3 million joke shop that is Robbie Keane.

It's not all bad, though. Chelsea only drew with Newcastle and all of Man. United's chances at Villa Park fell to Wayne "allergic to net" Rooney.

Glen Johnson's goal against Hull was something exciting.

Gorgeous Harry Redknapp gave the Spurs fans Semih Senturk's once again.

Arsenal are in a small crisis. Very tiny. Nothing for them or their fans to worry about at all. Really! No, really!

The Gallas thing was extraordinary. He was a superb skipper up to St. Andrews in February, but everything since then was insanely bad. It all came to a climax last week, and there's not really anything left to say about it. Giving Cesc the armband and winning at Stamford Bridge would probably help things.




Barcelona's incredible form took a slight detour into the land of the ordinary, as they struggled to a 1-1 draw with Getafe.

Atletico Madrid conceded a 95th minute equalising penalty at Numancia to dent their feint title hopes yet again.

Sevilla v Valencia looked awesome on paper. From the highlights in the early hours of Sunday morning, it failed to deliver.

Villarreal inexplicably lost 3-0 at home to Valladolid.

Wesley Sneijder relieved a bit of pressure off Real Madrid boss Bernd Schuster.




Jose Mourinho hates the Italian media. He also hates Claudio Ranieri. That's why he was pretty happy at his Inter side beating in-form Juventus 1-0 at the San Siro. Good movement from Muntari for the goal, but it was a bit of an anti-climax to a game that promised so much more.



Roma have been rejuvenated by their big win over Chelsea in the Champions League, and have looked far better since then. Last week saw them win the Rome derby, and this weekend goals from Totti, Juan and the ever-improving Mirko Vucinic helped them beat Lecce 3-0.

Montolivo shone as Fiorentina beat Udinese 4-2.

It's always good to see Ronaldinho do something good:



Atletico Madrid weren't the only European team to have their title ambitions hindered by a 95th minute equalising penalty – Napoli were punished in the same manner by Cagliari.


THE WEEK AHEAD...

Fixtures and pointless predictions. What more could you want?

Premier League

Monday 24th

Wigan v Everton 2-0

Saturday 29th

Aston Villa v Fulham 2-1
Middlesbrough v Newcastle 1-2
Stoke v Hull 1-1
Sunderland v Bolton 2-1
Wigan v West Brom 1-1

Sunday 30th

Chelsea v Arsenal 2-0
Man. City v Man. United 2-3
Portsmouth v Blackburn 0-1
Tottenham v Everton 2-0


UEFA Champions League – Matchday Five

Tuesday 25th

Aalborg v Celtic 1-0
Arsenal v Dynamo Kiev 1-2
BATE Borisov v Real Madrid 1-1
Bayern Munich v Steaua Bucharest 2-0
Fenerbahce v Porto 2-0
Fiorentina v Lyon 2-2
Villarreal v Man. United 1-1
Zenit v Juventus 2-1

Wednesday 26th

Anorthosis v Werder Bremen 2-1
Atletico Madrid v PSV 3-0
Bordeaux v Chelsea 1-3
CFR Cluj v Roma 0-2
Inter Milan v Panathanaikos 3-0
Liverpool v Marseille 2-0
Shakhtar Donetsk v Basle 4-1
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona 2-4


Portsmouth v AC Milan is going to be an interesting sight, too. The thought of Kaka and Ronaldinho at Fratton Park is mildly amusing. It could be quite the night, although there seems little chance of an epic home win with Defoe and Diarra out injured.

In Spain, Barcelona can test their much-hyped credentials at Sevilla this Saturday.

Before we say a predictably teary goodbye, check out these goals from Maicon and Elano from Brazil's 6-2 win over Portugal in midweek:





It was like a flashback to the Brazil from the seventies and early eighties. Stunning stuff.


Look out for new column, ‘THE FIVE' coming soon, and 411's countdown of the top fifty footballers on the planet we call Earth. Until then...