The Round Football Column 12.22.08: 172nd Edition - Barca Keep flying, Liverpool Draw, More

Posted by  on 12.22.2008

Maicon's class makes Jose Mourinho go crazy, Robbie Keane scores a goal, Thierry Henry keeps his good form going, Kaka's still got it, plus more. One Click Away.

"Well you would know!"

Let's start with a brief word about the Club World Cup.

Man. United won it.

The semi-final was quite fun to watch at work, but that's about as far as it goes.

Just because Channel 5 got a lob-on about the tournament doesn't mean the rest of us have to.

Enough already. No more.

Arsenal v Liverpool seemed to garner far more interest from the British media, but the contest itself didn't quite live up to expectations.

Liverpool played reasonably well and Rafa would have undoubtedly been pissing kidney stones with pride for spells. However, for the league leaders to lack so much creative ability and thrust in the final third was strange. They should have tried harder for the win.

Alex Song and Denilson are simply not good enough, while Nasri is not ready yet. Then Fabregas was injured and taken off. THEN ADEBAYOR WAS SENT OFF!

There are so many reasons why Liverpool should have taken charge of this game.

Yet they were severely lacking that little something to take all three points. In the same position, Man. United would have destroyed Arsenal after Ade's red. Gerrard had a poor game and Torres was still absent, but a team with that much ambition should be bringing more to the table in a situation like that. People were saying it was a good point for Liverpool, but that thought-process should have been out of the window with 20 minutes remaining. They should have gone for the jugular. If Man. United or Chelsea start sorting themselves out soon, the Kopites could be left behind, crying into their 1989/90 season review video once again.




Aston Villa were battered and bruised by West Ham, but escaped with three points! The sign of champions?

Of course not, I'm being hilarious.

Sunderland scored their fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth goals of Ricky Hatton's regime, with the Kenners/Cisse partnership looking vintage again, but the heckling of the gaffer during his BBC interview was a bit weird. No manager should be too matey with his students. It'll never last.

West Brom v Man. City was supposed to be a warm-up to Arsenal v Liverpool, but it ended up being a show-stealer. That back-flick from the City lad was something else, but it was good to see the boing-boings raise a couple of smiles for once.

Luka Modric scored again, but Harry's honeymoon period continues to hit iceberg after iceberg as Newcastle were the latest team to beat his not-so mighty Spurs. Duff's winner was class, and it's quite funny to see Joe "c**ting" Kinnear having a bit of success.

Bolton scored two goals in the first three minutes against Portsmouth. Tony Adams nearly shit.

Fulham's defence is ruthless. When they start scoring goals the whole package actually works. When you play Middlesbrough at home its good practice.

Big Sam started well. Poor Paul Ince.




Barcelona have gone into Christmas with a mega ten point lead over the rest of Spain, after yet another big win in La Liga, this time at Villarreal.

They were a little sluggish apart from a Thierry Henry chance in the first-half, but Villarreal's breakaway opener at the start of the second sparked them into life. Seydou Keita was brilliantly brave for the first, and then Thierry Henry capped off a fine individual performance with a left-foot volley to give Barcelona a 2-1 win. Gerard Pique's red card opened some gaps up for Villarreal in the final 20 minutes, but The Yellow Submarine were extremely wasteful and Nihat will be eating his Christmas turkey with tears streaming down his face.

Arjen Robben has been unbelievable in recent weeks – seriously unbelievable – and his quality run and assist set up Gonzo Higuain for Real Madrid's only goal in a priceless 1-0 win over Valencia.



Sergio "El Pimp" Aguero scored again as Atletico won 3-2 at Espanyol.





Maicon is great. Not only is he the best right-back in the world (Sergio Ramos is NOT, you deluded gimps), but he can also score. Inter won 2-1 at Siena on Saturday and he bagged both. The fella is a breed.

Mourinho loves him too. Check out who joins in with the elaborate celebrations:



The ever-improving Montolivo scored as Fiorentina won 1-0 at Sampdoria.

Late goals from Jeremy Menez and Super Mirko Vucinic couldn't help Roma fully recover from being 3-0 down to Catania before the clock had even tickled the hour mark.

That monster Amauri and Del Boy helped Juventus win 3-1 at Atalanta.

Many people say Arsenal are the strangest / most unreliable / most inconsistent team in Europe. AC Milan get on their hands and knees, and beg to differ:




THE WEEK AHEAD...

Christmas football is great. It must be crap for the players, but it's unbelievable for the fans.

Premier League

Monday 22nd

Everton v Chelsea 1-2

Boxing Day

Aston Villa v Arsenal 2-1
Chelsea v West Brom 2-0
Liverpool v Bolton 2-0
Man. City v Hull 1-1
Middlesbrough v Everton 3-1
Portsmouth v West Ham 1-1
Stoke v Man. United 1-2
Sunderland v Blackburn 3-2
Tottenham v Fulham 1-0
Wigan v Newcastle 0-1

Sunday 28th

Arsenal v Portsmouth 2-0
Blackburn v Man. City 2-1
Bolton v Wigan 2-0
Everton v Sunderland 2-1
Fulham v Chelsea 0-1
Newcastle v Liverpool 1-3
West Brom v Tottenham 1-2
West Ham v Stoke 2-1


A quick word on the Champions League draw before we go.

Probably the best draw ever at this stage of the tournament. Five really great ties. Really great. That's for another day, though.

That's it, all done. Merry Christmas and all that shit.

Until next week...