One more thing I shall ass. This week was great for my teams. Real Madrid-Juventus, and Arsenal-Manshester United games were awesome, as both Real and United got

bitch

- wait for it . . .

slapped

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Tottenham is absolutely on a roll. When they hired Redknapp, I thought that they made it with perfect timing. They were going to beat Bolton anyway, while no one won't get at Redknapp if he fails against Arsenal, Liverpool, and M. City. IMO 2 points would have been really good in the last 3 games. Instead they got 7. :|

Plus Bent scored 5 times in less than 72 hours. :| x2

And what do you guys think of Maradona becoming the new coach of Argentinian National Team. IMO thats one of the dumbest moves ever in football history. Now that Argentina (IMO) has the best squad among all the nations, and Brasil struggles a lot, Maradona is really a horrible gamble. He has zero experience as a coach, and even from his interviews you can get that he is way too untalented to become a coach (like most of other great players).

This change is actually going to represent a first for me. I started to watch football(as in continuously) in 95-96 season. After that there have been 3 World Cups, and in all of them I used to yay for Argentina. But if Maradona is their coach, I'd like to see them fail.

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I was just stating, that Xavi shall not be a favorite to win, as some articles I read consider him among top5, and he was one of 3 candidates for FifPRO award.

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It's just that Cesc is Cesc, ya know :blueeyedbaby:

If the award was season based (which is actually how it was supposed to be), I'd definitely agree with you about Deco. However I don't think Deco was the one to blame for his performances. Barcelona last year did a horrible job at creating a team from all the stars they had. Leaving that alone, Deco IMO is currently the best player of the new Premier League season. His effect in Chelsea was clear from game 1, and he definitely upgraded the offensive level of the team.

And the perfect score. I watched Arsenal, Juventus, Liverpool, and Valencia this weekend. I was so optimist about Arsenal, and Juve, while being pessimist about Valencia, and Liverpool (precisely about whether or not they'll score).

4/4

I would probably be inclined to agree if this were 1982, but the value of the World Cup has decreased since then. Not too long ago you had great teams competing for one cup and it would've been hard to pick favourites. Now, you have France and Italy, who struggle through qualification and some how stumble onto form during the tournament. I mean seriously, when Domenech and his mysterious tea leaves can "coach" a team to the final, you know something is wrong

The domestic title is hard to get because it requires consistency over a season (which is what these awards are supposedly based on anyway or 2 halves of 2 seasons...whatever ). You could probably make a case for the Champions League being around the same quality as the World Cup, if not better. That is a cup competition that is extended over a season as well against teams of the highest quality. When you win the biggest double over a season of long hard work, surely it beats turning up and playing well over 3 weeks... well not according to the voters

At one time there was more of a mystique about the World Cup, a feeling of excitement at discovering great new players you'd never seen before and watching unknown teams come out of nowhere to do well. But these days, rightly or wrongly, it's almost like fans are slightly jaded while watching the WC because they already know all the players. Even when a team reaches the World Cup for the first time like the Ivory Coast, you're already familiar with the team because they all play in Europe. I guess it's a symptom of the media coverage and the money involved in the game now.

So I think the Champions League has taken over from the World Cup as the most important competition these days. It's a better representation of the world's top players because they all play for a select group of Europe's top teams.

Having said that though, even the CL isn't quite what it was a few years ago. It probably sounds weird coming from an English fan, but I have no interest in seeing four English teams in the semi finals of the CL every year. The Champions League is becoming the Premier League and that's boring - these are the games we see every week. The whole point of the CL is that it's a competition between the best leagues and the top clubs from around Europe. I'd much prefer to see four teams from four different countries in the semis. It takes away some of the appeal and the sense of excitement to see what are basically domestic games.

^ Agree about the Champions League. We've seen the strengthening of clubs like Schalke and Werder that are there abouts but can't seem to make the next step. We've seen Juve bow out because of Calciopoli and Ajax and PSV decline in status too. Lyon are the perennial underachievers in Europe. And where have Sparta Prague et al. gone? That being said, this Champions League seemed weaker than most years at first glance with teams I'd never known before like Cluj, BATE Borisov and Anorthosis but they have been surprised me tbh.

So how do you all feel about Barca now, eh?

Only seen the game against Atletico but if that was anything to go by they're playing pretty well, though the football is nowhere close to the awesomeness of Rijkaard's team. Nevertheless, they have some good plays in and around the box and they seem to have found a vigour in defence, applying pressure in numbers, making passing football harder to play. I think they could win La Liga this year and make it far in the Champions League, but not sure how they's stack up against the English teams

The departure of Ronnie seems to have had a liberating effect on Messi. I think he thrives if he's made the de facto n° 1 guy.

Arsenal's youth policy is finally really catching up with them.

They needed to replace Flamini and they didn't. Once they get another player like that they'll start playing well again.

Arsenal's youth policy is finally really catching up with them.

Has Silvestre ever been anything but?

Always seemed regally mediocre, on Saturday he was downright shameful. Flamini was a filthy lil' bandit but my how they miss him.

sorry eNe

Catania Win 3-2 After Dropping Shorts

I read about that

New York is playing someone in a local broadcast !

*edit* Its soccer, nevermind .