The Round Football Column 12.08.08: 170th Edition - Thierry's Treble, Sergio Ramos' Lack of Ability and More
Posted by on 12.08.2008
Real Madrid lose one of the best games so far this season, Thierry Henry is back, Ashley Young loves drama, Robbie Keane loves the bench, plus more. One Click Away.
Morning, evening, afternoon, whatever.
FIFA 09 could be better than Pro Evo. Is that possible? It may just be.
Let's start with a look ahead to El Clasico this weekend.
Barcelona continued their insanely impressive first season under Pep Guardiola, with a 4-0 home win over Valencia on Saturday:
.....and Thierry Henry bagged a hat-trick! He was supposed to be done and dusted, not banging three past a team like Valencia. Good for him, though, and good for Barcelona. They must have worried how much the absence of Samuel Eto'o would affect the team, but the answer was positive. Everything seems positive at Camp Nou nowadays. Whether or not they maintain this form until May is another story, but right here right now they look nothing short of sensational.
This doesn't bode well for Real Madrid, who had yet another abysmal weekend.
The coach is under extreme pressure, Sergio Ramos is having an abysmal season, Marcelo is a joke, Salgado is too old, Raul's nothing more than an impact player, and Arjen Robben is suspended after getting sent off in the game of the season. They did well to fight back from 3-1 down to Sevilla, but for the best player on the pitch (Robben) to get so stupidly sent-off and then concede another in the way that they did, they simply deserve all the bad luck that's coming their way this season.
Everyone raves about Sergio Ramos as if he's the next Franz Beckenbaur or something! It's ridiculous. The guy is so excruciatingly overrated.
He may be getting on, but Ruud van Nistelrooy's goals were still flowing. They miss him big time, and the loss of Pepe has been a huge blow, too.
As for the game itself, well it's hard to see past a Barcelona blitz. Real just look so scarily weak at the back, Iker Casillas is in poor form, and pretty much all of their best creative talent will be warming the sidelines. The Camp Nou fans will be expectant, and after last season's heartache of being done 1-0 and 4-1 by their title-winning enemies, they will feel like it's their time to have a moment in the sun. With his confidence from the Valencia treble and the defenders he'll be facing, this could be a big, big night for Thierry Henry and his Barcelona career. Watch this space...
Roy Keane left Sunderland, and if you believe every word of the British tabloid newspapers, then you can sleep well in the knowledge that he resigned via a message in text form.
His old club defended well during a horrible game at Old Trafford, but the presumably would-be champions scored in the 91st minute and that was that.
Super Sunday lived up to its name for the second week in a row, and SKY must be even more delighted than the times that Dion Dublin accepts their invitation for a place in the pundit chair. The quality of football was severely lacking during Villa's trip to Everton, but what happened late on made it one of the most memorable games this year. Ashley Young still seems too inconsistent to be labelled "world-class" (whatever that actually means) but the skill and composure for that dramatic winner was simply stunning.
On the other hand, Joleon Lescott can score 299 points for your fantasy football team, but it doesn't make him a good player. He's awful.
Chelsea were playing a rubbish team, so Deco and Anelka decided to play well again. That's sort of the way it works with those crazy cats.
Liverpool seemed to struggle away at Blackburn, but made a late surge to win 3-1. Good for them.
Arsenal took their confidence from Stamford Bridge, ripped it to shreds, and played like shit against Wigan. Not frustrating at all. Seriously. You've all probably read about the whole Emmanuel Eboue saga by now. It was really incredible stuff. Imagine the worst performance you've ever seen in League One, double it, then put it in an Arsenal shirt at The Emirates. Even Arsene Wenger lost faith, and he backs up everyone!
Real Madrid and Barcelona have been mentioned, but they weren't the only stories from a quite brilliant weekend in Spain.
Sergio Aguero continues to be a pimp amongst mere prostitutes. Sporting Hi-Hon were doing great until this guy came along. He's just a stunning, stunning footballer. Please don't go to Chelsea!
Getafe proved how strong La Liga is by coasting through yet another massive away game with class. They're tenth in the table, but they did the unthinkable and got a point at Camp Nou, beat Real Madrid comfortably, and most recently, went 3-0 up away to Villarreal. They blew it, and ended up drawing 3-3, but the goals they initially scored were just sublime. Could you imagine the Prem's tenth-placed team (Bolton) scoring goals like this at Stamford Bridge?
The answer is no.
Zlat loves tricks:
He also loves goals:
It's annoying that Inter teased us at the start of the season. They made us believe there could actually be a title race in Italy this season. They lied.
Diego Milito loves goals even more that Ibrahimovic. He scored the winner as Genoa won 1-0 at Sampdoria.
Gilardino netted twice as Fiorentina stuffed Torino 4-1.
Amauri scored in stoppage time to give Juventus a 2-1 win at Lecce.
Kaka bagged the winner as Milan shocked the world and only stumbled past Catania at home.
Jeremy Menez scored the only goal in Roma's 1-0 win at Chievo.
THE WEEK AHEAD...
Fixtures and pointless predictions. What more could you want?
Premier League
Monday 8th
West Ham v Tottenham 1-1
Saturday 13th
Aston Villa v Bolton 2-1
Liverpool v Hull 1-0
Man. City v Everton 4-0
Middlesbrough v Arsenal 0-2
Stoke v Fulham 1-0
Sunderland v West Brom 1-0
Tottenham v Man. United 0-2
Wigan v Blackburn 2-1
Sunday 30th
Chelsea v West Ham 2-0
Portsmouth v Newcastle 1-2
UEFA Champions League – Matchday Six
Tuesday 25th
Barcelona v Shakhtar 2-2
Basle v Sporting 1-2
Chelsea v Cluj 2-0
Marseille v Atletico Madrid 2-3
Panathinaikos v Anorthosis 0-1
PSV v Liverpool 0-2
Roma v Bordeaux 3-1
Werder Bremen v Inter 2-2
Wednesday 26th
Celtic v Villarreal 0-2
Dynamo Kiev v Fenerbahce 2-0
Juventus v BATE 1-0
Lyon v Bayern Munich 1-2
Man. United v Aalborg 2-0
Porto v Arsenal 0-0
Real Madrid v Zenit 2-1
Steaua Bucharest v Fiorentina 0-1
"On the other hand, Joleon Lescott can score 299 points for your fantasy football team, but it doesn't make him a good player. He's awful"
Spot on my friend. The amount of players people think are good because of fantasy league is a very long one. Morten Gamst Pedersen being another classic example. Rather than actually watch how someone plays, people seem to think it's more important to say "Oh, but he got 10 points this weekend - he's quality".
Makalele never got you any points in fantasy league, but he was always vitally important for a winning team
Posted By: Matt Snelling (Registered) on December 08, 2008 at 04:13 AM
Michael Essien - The best worst Fantasty Player Ever. Im suprised how well Chelsea have been doing without him....
Posted By: Brad (Guest) on December 08, 2008 at 07:03 AM
Great great column.
You should do it more often.
It's nice to see Christian Vieri netting this past weekend. It's a pity Sheva couldnt capitalise on his goal against Lazio in the cup though..
"Makalele never got you any points in fantasy league, but he was always vitally important for a winning team"
Spot on..
And one more thing. Play Materazzi Mourinho. He put in a dominating performance against Juve a few weeks ago, and is promptly shuffled out of the squad for the following league match.
He deserves better!
Posted By: Propagandhi (Guest) on December 08, 2008 at 07:07 AM
sergio ramos isn't overrated, he's overly criticized. yes, he's had a bad season, the entire team have been having a bad season, but he has been chosen for the fifapro eleven for a reason. he has it really difficult on real madrid because when he's playing rightback, he's expected to also take up the position of ring winger. and when he's playing centerback, there's the risk of MARCELO and salgado flanking and he has to scurry around to try and help cover everyone else's asses. i think he's expected to do too much and he is a huge risk for injury, especially considering that he's been having a few little injuries that have been bothering him all season that he just plays through.
anyway. he's 22 years old and he's having a really tough season. get off his back.
Posted By: michelle (Guest) on December 09, 2008 at 02:03 AM
Where the shit have you been, O'Sullivan? You decide to take half the season off? The hell, man?
This is the only footy column I read religiously. No more Hobbs stuff, too. Guess the honeymoon's over.
And where the hell is the SPL coverage?
C'mon man! Fans are waiting!
Posted By: Kyle (Guest) on December 09, 2008 at 03:32 PM
Right, Arsenal were not good against Wigan. However, for 70 minutes they were the only team in the game and hit the post twice. I think it also does a bit of a disservice to Wigan, who had gone five games unbeaten and were looking good.
Eboue needs to be got rid of. I remember the drubbing against Man Utd in the FA cup last year where he was atrocious.
As for Henry, you don't lose talent and class like he has.
Posted By: Pete Thorn (Guest) on December 09, 2008 at 09:03 PM
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