The Round Football Column 12.15.08: 171st Edition - El Clasico, Prem review and More

Posted by Tim O'Sullivan on 12.15.2008

Leo Messi gets battered, bruised and net-happy in El Clasico, Liverpool and Chelsea continue their battle to become the worst Prem champions ever, Amauri destroys Milan, Champions League draw preview, plus more. One Click Away.

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We'll start with a brief look at yet another bizarre weekend for the top four in England.

A lot of people will think this 2008-09 Premier League title race is exciting, fascinating, amazing, etc. However, it seems like an overriding stench of mediocrity is more overwhelming than the positive aspects of this race. Despite it being understandable to look upon this race with intrigue and excitement, it's very hard to ignore the aesthetic downfalls of the elite teams. It's tainting theseason.

Whatever the media may tell you, Arsenal are definitely still in this title race. They have absolutely no right to be, but they are. A win against Liverpool next Sunday, followed by a win at Villa Park will put them in a half-decent position. With players like Alex Song and Denilson consistently in their starting XI, in addition to defensive frailties and their best two players lacking form, it seems baffling to discuss them as title contenders, but that's the way this season has gone.

This is mainly down to their rivals. Liverpool are top, but they look incredibly ordinary at times. It's hard to speak in detail about a game viewed via Match of the Day highlights, but Hull seemed to be unlucky only leaving Anfield with a point. This is the league leaders........at home!!! There is something missing there.

Then there's Chelsea. They look devastatingly ruthless away from home, but it's got to a stage at Stamford Bridge where it's not that surprising to see a team as average as West Ham get a point there. The second half on Sunday proved that they must go to 4-4-2 at home. It's hard to have a dig at Anelka with his stats this season, but in the first half against West Ham he looked totally void of any attacking threat. Bosingwa and A. Cole were stifled as you would expect by now, and it was down to Lampard and J. Cole to try and bring some life into the game through the middle. Drogba's arrival changed things, and even if it makes them slightly more vulnerable in between defence and midfield, it clearly gives them so much more in the final third. To think that they look so ordinary at times and still be off the top spot merely by goal difference is extraordinary. In no other season would they have the chance to reinvent themselves and sort it out during the year, without falling ten points adrift.

It truly is a weird campaign, and that's before we even get to the champions. They look a shade pedestrian in midfield, and Berbatov's arrival has stopped the fluidity up-top, but they have got rid of pretty much every tough away fixture in the calendar and have never hit fourth gear, let alone fifth. All this and they are still in a strong position going into the Christmas period. Cristiano Ronaldo seems to be affected by Berbatov's languid style, as his movement is obviously lacking compared to Tevez's marathon running that opened up so much space for the Ballon d'Or winner last season. Still, like Chelsea they have time to amend things. It'll be interesting to see if Ferguson tries something new.

Either way, at least one team needs to step up their game or else we'll have the most ordinary Premier League champions of all-time.




The Villa nicked fourth spot with Ashley "apparently as good as Messi" Young shining yet again. When Jeff Stelling's funny little face announced that they had gone 1-0 down early doors, it was easy to assume another stuttering home performance was on the way. However, Agbonlahor and Young stepped up and scored some very, very impressive goals to help Villa win. As a team there still seems like there is something missing, especially in midfield, but we live in a results business and therefore must take them seriously.

Roy Keane cried into his dog's lap watching Soccer Saturday, as he saw his former students score four past the boing-boings. Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cisse look like quite a tidy strike partnership on their day.

Fulham continued their great defensive record with another clean sheet at Stoke. They couldn't score in a brothel, though. That makes them all kinds of tedious.

Newcastle won 3-0 at Portsmouth, and it came out of nowhere. Pompey are certainly missing something this season, but Newcastle fans surely couldn't have expected to win like that, when they set off from the north-east at 2.00am on Sunday morning! It was a good performance, though, and it was interesting to see a glimpse of old school Mickey Owen rolling back the years.




El Clasico has been and gone for a few months, and it had all the drama we've come to expect from La Liga's showpiece contest.

Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry continued their great run of form, as Barcelona claimed a deserved win, but one man on the opposing team didn't look quite as happy.

Whether it was the rain that made his hair look so weird or the look on his face at the end, it was hard to ignore Iker Casillas during El Clasico. Does he love Real Madrid so much that it hurts more than anything or has he had enough? Probably the former, but maybe he won't be guarding the nets at The Bernabeu forever. There's only so much you can give for the same cause. The reason why he should have been closer to Ronaldo in the Ballon d'Or vote is because those players in front of him (aside from Pepe last season) are not on the same level. He saved an ordinary Real team over and over again last season, and a slight drop of personal form in this campaign has emphasised how much he was doing for them.

Having said that, he was back on song this past Saturday and that penalty save from Samuel Eto'o really was something else:



Elsewhere, Valencia won.

Sevilla beat Villarreal 1-0.

Sergio Aguero loves goals and he scored another as Atletico Madrid beat Real Betis 2-0.




Amauri continued his gradual progression as one of Europe's elite strikers by scoring twice in Juventus' 4-2 win over Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelan.

Inter Milan / Zlatan Ibrahimovic won again. Yawn.

Super Mirko Vucinic kept Roma's good run going with a last-minute winner against Cagliari.

Antonio di Natale netted a brace as Udinese and Lazio produced a (presumably) great 3-3 draw.

Adrian Mutu and Alberto Gilardino scored as Fiorentina beat Catania 2-0.


THE WEEK AHEAD...

Fixtures and pointless predictions. Vintage.

Premier League

Saturday 20th

Blackburn v Stoke 1-2
Bolton v Portsmouth 3-1
Fulham v Middlesbrough 0-0
Hull v Sunderland 1-0
West Ham v Aston Villa 1-2

Sunday 21st

Arsenal v Liverpool 2-0
Newcastle v Tottenham 1-1
West Brom v Man. City 1-1


Man. United are competing in the Club World Cup and the last round of UEFA Cup games are also being played, but they both have little to no relevance.

In more important news, the Champions League second round draw will take place this Friday. It's probably been the worst group stage in recent memory, but the second round has the potential to be incredible. Jose Mourinho v Chelsea or Liverpool, and Barcelona v Arsenal would be epic for so many aesthetic and psychological reasons.


That's it, all done. Until next week...