Arsenal's Jack Wilshere, left, impressed again in his side's 2-0 win over Wolves and will be in the side to face Barcelona on Wednesday. Photograph: Sang Tan/AP Jack Wilshere believes Arsenal have learned the lessons from their chastening Champions League elimination by Barcelona last season and has called on his team-mates to "be a bit nasty" by "getting in the faces" of the Spanish team during a daunting tie, which begins at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
Arsène Wenger's side are set to be boosted by the unexpected availability of Samir Nasri, arguably their most consistently impressive player this season, with the France international having recovered from hamstring damage sustained in the FA Cup fourth-round win over Huddersfield. His return would add to Arsenal's attacking options, though Wilshere and his team-mates will be just as intent on nullifying a Barça team who have scored 71 times in La Liga already this campaign and won 6-3 on aggregate in last year's quarter-final.
"I was at the Emirates Stadium for the first game against Barcelona last season and they were brilliant, especially in that first half," said Wilshere. "I was in Bolton [on loan] for the second match and watched on television but I remember we basically played our game, passing it around. This year we have to get in their faces and show them what we're all about. When we have the ball, we've got to keep it as well as they can. We've got to change our game a bit to play against Barcelona we'll learn from last year, but we need to get in their faces and, if you like, be a bit nasty, in a footballing sense, to get the ball back.
"We have to press them as a team there's no point just one of us going after them, so we have to close them down as a team and get the ball back from them. But we'll go into the game on Wednesday looking for the win still. It's important we get that to take to their place for the return match."
Although the teenage midfielder acknowledged a need to tweak the team's approach, Wenger retains faith that his players can unsettle Barcelona by tapping into their own strengths, albeit if they can secure possession for themselves. Arsenal claimed an unlikely 2-2 draw against these opponents in last season's first leg despite being without key players, and with Cesc Fábregas's domestic season ended by the injury picked up converting the hosts' equaliser from the penalty spot. Yet there is strength in depth this time around, with Nasri's potential return particularly timely.
The French midfielder has excelled, scoring 14 times, and had been expected to miss the first leg at the Emirates Stadium. He will have further tests on his hamstring tomorrow and Tuesday before a decision is made, though there is optimism that he will be able to feature against the Spanish champions.
"I will not take a crazy gamble, but physically he is ready," said Wenger. "There is just a risk of him suffering a setback, so we will test him medically and physically. There are other important games coming up we have Leyton Orient in the FA Cup, and the Carling Cup final, and the return game in Barcelona in three weeks. So it is important not to be stupid.
"I personally believe we go into the Barcelona game in better shape than last year. We had so many uncertainties last season Robin [van Persie] was injured, William Gallas went off in the first game, Andrey Arshavin went off after 27 minutes, we had no Alex Song or Fábregas in the second game The team, for me, had less confidence and we have matured since then. We can certainly compete technically better with them. It will be interesting to see whether we play with belief.
"You can wonder whether we need to change the way we play at the Nou Camp but, at home, we will try to play to our strengths. We will try to attack the other team. If we just play in the final third defensively, that would not be our natural game and we would not be happy we'd come out of the match thinking we hadn't played. But if we can escape their pressure, then we can be dangerous. We will create chances if we can put them under pressure. We have to think about how we do that."
The size of the task awaiting Arsenal was put into perspective by Fábregas who acknowledged the Catalans are "the best team in the world" at present. "We have a young team but one with a lot of quality and energy," he said. "We are very motivated. They are such a good team that, even if you know everything [about them], they have so many quality players that they can make the difference. We don't have to worry too much about them. We have to play with no fear. Last season in the first half [of the first leg] especially we respected them too much. We just have to play our game and that is it."
Ronaldo celebrates after scoring the first of his two goals for Brazil in the 2-0 win against Germany in the 2002 World Cup final. Photograph: Toshifumi Kitamura/EPA Ronaldo, the Brazilian whose control, pace and power made him one of the top strikers in the world, is to quit the game at the age of 34.
In a brilliant 18-year career in which he played for both Milan clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, Ronaldo scored more than 400 goals, including a record 15 at World Cups.
"I can't take it any more," he said. "I wanted to carry on but I can't. I plan a move in a game but I cannot execute it as I wish. The time is up."
Last week Ronaldo, who was Fifa player of the year in 1996, 1997 and 2002, was blamed by fans for Corinthians' exit from the Copa Libertadores, Latin America's most important competition and the only major tournament the Brazilian club has yet to win.
Supporters damaged players' cars and threw rocks at the team bus and Ronaldo said at the time that the violence had made him consider ending his career.
His retirement comes days after his former Brazil team-mate Roberto Carlos said he was leaving Corinthians because he and his family were being threatened by fans after the Copa Libertadores elimination.
Ronaldo had been expected to keep playing until the end of the year but he is visibly unfit and beset with injuries. He has been struggling to play at a high level and has not scored since last year.
Ronaldo, who thrived in Europe after leaving Cruzeiro for PSV Eindhoven in 1993, played in three World Cups, helping Brazil win the title in 2002 in South Korea and Japan by scoring twice in the final in a 2-0 win over Germany. He returned to Brazil at the beginning of 2009 to recover from a third serious knee injury.
Ronaldo celebrates after scoring the first of his two goals for Brazil in the 2-0 win against Germany in the 2002 World Cup final. Photograph: Toshifumi Kitamura/EPA Ronaldo, the Brazilian whose control, pace and power made him one of the top strikers in the world, is to quit the game at the age of 34.
In a brilliant 18-year career in which he played for both Milan clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, Ronaldo scored more than 400 goals, including a record 15 at World Cups.
"I can't take it any more," he said. "I wanted to carry on but I can't. I plan a move in a game but I cannot execute it as I wish. The time is up."
Last week Ronaldo, who was Fifa player of the year in 1996, 1997 and 2002, was blamed by fans for Corinthians' exit from the Copa Libertadores, Latin America's most important competition and the only major tournament the Brazilian club has yet to win.
Supporters damaged players' cars and threw rocks at the team bus and Ronaldo said at the time that the violence had made him consider ending his career.
His retirement comes days after his former Brazil team-mate Roberto Carlos said he was leaving Corinthians because he and his family were being threatened by fans after the Copa Libertadores elimination.
Ronaldo had been expected to keep playing until the end of the year but he is visibly unfit and beset with injuries. He has been struggling to play at a high level and has not scored since last year.
Ronaldo, who thrived in Europe after leaving Cruzeiro for PSV Eindhoven in 1993, played in three World Cups, helping Brazil win the title in 2002 in South Korea and Japan by scoring twice in the final in a 2-0 win over Germany. He returned to Brazil at the beginning of 2009 to recover from a third serious knee injury.
Liverpool's manager, Kenny Dalglish, can enjoy a longer term view than Roberto Martinez at Wigan. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images If you wanted a hint that Kenny Dalglish is no longer just for the short term it came when the Liverpool manager was debating the impact of the midweek friendlies on his side's performance. Dalglish was arguing that the late-night flights carrying his players back to John Lennon Airport from Wednesday's internationals had dulled Liverpool's edge.
In fact, only four of his starting line-up – Raul Meireles, Lucas Leiva, Glen Johnson and Dirk Kuyt – had been seriously involved internationally, although Daniel Agger, injured in training with Liverpool after returning from England's 2-1 win in Copenhagen, would have been a fifth. Wigan, who also had players away including Maynor Figueroa who returned from Honduras on Friday morning, had as much cause for complaint.
More interestingly, the man who is nominally in charge only until the end of May added: "We had a look at the fixtures for next season, which starts on 13 August, but there is a friendly on the 10th. That is a Wednesday but why not play it on a Tuesday? We could have the players for the extra day and that might be beneficial for everybody. They have tried it in the European Championship qualifiers, where they have played on Fridays and Tuesdays, so maybe they can change it for next season."
Despite seeing Dalglish's run of four straight wins grind to a stop against a Wigan side who have been a jagged thorn in Liverpool's flesh for a number of seasons, there would be nobody at Anfield who would not want the Scot to continue.
In November Liverpool had drawn 1-1 with Wigan after a display against Chelsea that was as impressive as their victory at Stamford Bridge at the start of this month. That initial win over Chelsea was Roy Hodgson's fourth in a row as Liverpool manager, a run that featured his only away league victory, at Bolton, and a jaw-dropping Steven Gerrard-fuelled comeback against Napoli. Finally, it seemed he could look further ahead than the next crisis only for the ground to be cut from beneath his feet for the last time.
Dalglish runs no such danger; he has too much credit in Liverpool's bank and his is on the gold standard. Hodgson's was based on IOUs and promissory notes. It might, however, have amused Hodgson as he sat in the directors' box at The Hawthorns, watching his new charges dragged back to earth by West Ham, to have learned that Meireles had scored his fifth goal for Liverpool. None had been for him.
When asked why, the Wigan manager, Roberto Martínez, suggested that Meireles, coming from Portuguese football, would always have required time to adapt, the kind of time Hodgson was never offered. Lucas Leiva thought the answer lay in the way Dalglish employed him.
"He has given him a more advanced role and the belief to score goals," he said. "The little advice he gives to us is massive. He wants us to play like Liverpool did in previous seasons. Every day he gives you a piece of advice that makes you think."
Martínez, whose side earned a point when Steve Gohouri prodded in an equaliser, acknowledged this had been a different Liverpool from the one he encountered three months ago. Luis Suárez may know when to fall to the floor but his two drives against the frame of Ali al-Habsi's goal were further proof he is an electric footballer. "The intensity they play with now is a lot higher and it makes it far more difficult to face them," said Martínez. "You can see this Liverpool side plays with huge belief and the result they had at Chelsea shows that the players are starting to settle in."
Martínez, unlike Dalglish, can only think in the short term. This was Wigan's fourth game without defeat but only one was a victory and they face both Manchester clubs, Tottenham and Chelsea in their next five fixtures. Dalglish, the stopgap manager, knows what he will be doing on 13 August. Martínez will be far less certain. Man of the match Luis Suárez (Liverpool)
Liverpool's manager, Kenny Dalglish, can enjoy a longer term view than Roberto Martinez at Wigan. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images If you wanted a hint that Kenny Dalglish is no longer just for the short term it came when the Liverpool manager was debating the impact of the midweek friendlies on his side's performance. Dalglish was arguing that the late-night flights carrying his players back to John Lennon Airport from Wednesday's internationals had dulled Liverpool's edge.
In fact, only four of his starting line-up Raul Meireles, Lucas Leiva, Glen Johnson and Dirk Kuyt had been seriously involved internationally, although Daniel Agger, injured in training with Liverpool after returning from England's 2-1 win in Copenhagen, would have been a fifth. Wigan, who also had players away including Maynor Figueroa who returned from Honduras on Friday morning, had as much cause for complaint.
More interestingly, the man who is nominally in charge only until the end of May added: "We had a look at the fixtures for next season, which starts on 13 August, but there is a friendly on the 10th. That is a Wednesday but why not play it on a Tuesday? We could have the players for the extra day and that might be beneficial for everybody. They have tried it in the European Championship qualifiers, where they have played on Fridays and Tuesdays, so maybe they can change it for next season."
Despite seeing Dalglish's run of four straight wins grind to a stop against a Wigan side who have been a jagged thorn in Liverpool's flesh for a number of seasons, there would be nobody at Anfield who would not want the Scot to continue.
In November Liverpool had drawn 1-1 with Wigan after a display against Chelsea that was as impressive as their victory at Stamford Bridge at the start of this month. That initial win over Chelsea was Roy Hodgson's fourth in a row as Liverpool manager, a run that featured his only away league victory, at Bolton, and a jaw-dropping Steven Gerrard-fuelled comeback against Napoli. Finally, it seemed he could look further ahead than the next crisis only for the ground to be cut from beneath his feet for the last time.
Dalglish runs no such danger; he has too much credit in Liverpool's bank and his is on the gold standard. Hodgson's was based on IOUs and promissory notes. It might, however, have amused Hodgson as he sat in the directors' box at The Hawthorns, watching his new charges dragged back to earth by West Ham, to have learned that Meireles had scored his fifth goal for Liverpool. None had been for him.
When asked why, the Wigan manager, Roberto Martínez, suggested that Meireles, coming from Portuguese football, would always have required time to adapt, the kind of time Hodgson was never offered. Lucas Leiva thought the answer lay in the way Dalglish employed him.
"He has given him a more advanced role and the belief to score goals," he said. "The little advice he gives to us is massive. He wants us to play like Liverpool did in previous seasons. Every day he gives you a piece of advice that makes you think."
Martínez, whose side earned a point when Steve Gohouri prodded in an equaliser, acknowledged this had been a different Liverpool from the one he encountered three months ago. Luis Suárez may know when to fall to the floor but his two drives against the frame of Ali al-Habsi's goal were further proof he is an electric footballer. "The intensity they play with now is a lot higher and it makes it far more difficult to face them," said Martínez. "You can see this Liverpool side plays with huge belief and the result they had at Chelsea shows that the players are starting to settle in."
Martínez, unlike Dalglish, can only think in the short term. This was Wigan's fourth game without defeat but only one was a victory and they face both Manchester clubs, Tottenham and Chelsea in their next five fixtures. Dalglish, the stopgap manager, knows what he will be doing on 13 August. Martínez will be far less certain. Man of the match Luis Suárez (Liverpool)
Kolarov needed to drop deeper and more infield into the marked area to dissuade United from switching the play to the flank. Once he had received the ball, the Portuguese had the ability to go inside or outside as he tormented Zabaleta. Photograph: Graphic This derby will be remembered for Wayne Rooney's stunning volleyed winner but, before Rooney stole the show, it had actually been a masterclass from Nani, Manchester United's speedy and improving winger. His display should be used as an example to any youngster to show the value of a player who can excel with both feet.
The winger gave Pablo Zabaleta a torrid time, terrorising the full-back both by tearing infield to strike left-footed at goal or running round the outside to cross with his right foot. Paul Scholes and Darren Fletcher kept him well supplied from the centre and he quickly established a pressure point down City's left which they never truly plugged. Roberto Mancini's uncharacteristically bold selection had left his side vulnerable.
By picking Gareth Barry as a lone defensive-minded midfielder, rather than his normal three, the visitors lacked their usual solidity and Aleksandar Kolarov, to Barry's left, did not offer Zabaleta the support he required in confronting Nani. The winger varied his play cleverly but it was Kolarov's starting position that so often allowed the Portugal international to gain clean possession in wide areas to attack Zabaleta. The Serb, a natural wing-back, needed to cover closer and further infieldto check Nani's threat when United switched the play to the flank. This would have served to deter Scholes's diagonal, cross-field passes from reaching the winger.
As it was, Nani, the game's most progressive forward, invariably had a choice of cutting infield or round Zabaleta on the outside. With John O'Shea breaking forward to support the attacks from right-back, United were able to gain possession in high, wide areas, creating good crossing positions. Kolarov offered only semi-protection throughout his 53 minutes on the pitch and it was Nani's strong burst through the centre, spotted by Ryan Giggs, that allowed him to force the hosts ahead. His effort was taken with the aplomb of a veteran goalscorer.
City could still claim they deserved a point in what was a tight and high-quality contest but they lacked the punch to capitalise on their tidy, shorter-passing game. They are still seeking their best side – big purchases do not always provide quick returns and Edin Dzeko, like Fernando Torres at Chelsea, will need time – but they will both be a big threat next season. For United the trophy looks theirs for the taking when they can continually extract maximums from their varied resources.
Kolarov needed to drop deeper and more infield into the marked area to dissuade United from switching the play to the flank. Once he had received the ball, the Portuguese had the ability to go inside or outside as he tormented Zabaleta. Photograph: Graphic This derby will be remembered for Wayne Rooney's stunning volleyed winner but, before Rooney stole the show, it had actually been a masterclass from Nani, Manchester United's speedy and improving winger. His display should be used as an example to any youngster to show the value of a player who can excel with both feet.
The winger gave Pablo Zabaleta a torrid time, terrorising the full-back both by tearing infield to strike left-footed at goal or running round the outside to cross with his right foot. Paul Scholes and Darren Fletcher kept him well supplied from the centre and he quickly established a pressure point down City's left which they never truly plugged. Roberto Mancini's uncharacteristically bold selection had left his side vulnerable.
By picking Gareth Barry as a lone defensive-minded midfielder, rather than his normal three, the visitors lacked their usual solidity and Aleksandar Kolarov, to Barry's left, did not offer Zabaleta the support he required in confronting Nani. The winger varied his play cleverly but it was Kolarov's starting position that so often allowed the Portugal international to gain clean possession in wide areas to attack Zabaleta. The Serb, a natural wing-back, needed to cover closer and further infieldto check Nani's threat when United switched the play to the flank. This would have served to deter Scholes's diagonal, cross-field passes from reaching the winger.
As it was, Nani, the game's most progressive forward, invariably had a choice of cutting infield or round Zabaleta on the outside. With John O'Shea breaking forward to support the attacks from right-back, United were able to gain possession in high, wide areas, creating good crossing positions. Kolarov offered only semi-protection throughout his 53 minutes on the pitch and it was Nani's strong burst through the centre, spotted by Ryan Giggs, that allowed him to force the hosts ahead. His effort was taken with the aplomb of a veteran goalscorer.
City could still claim they deserved a point in what was a tight and high-quality contest but they lacked the punch to capitalise on their tidy, shorter-passing game. They are still seeking their best side big purchases do not always provide quick returns and Edin Dzeko, like Fernando Torres at Chelsea, will need time but they will both be a big threat next season. For United the trophy looks theirs for the taking when they can continually extract maximums from their varied resources.
Daniel Sturridge knocks the ball past Tim Howard of Everton for what was his third goal in three loan games at Bolton. Photograph: Jon Super/AP 1) Instead of sending young players on loan to polish them, maybe big clubs could just not sign youthful prospects until they actually required them
Daniel Sturridge expertly scored his third goal in as many games for Bolton, where he is on loan from Chelsea. Following Jack Wilshere's success at the Reebok last season while on loan from Arsenal, Bolton are rapidly developing a reputation as a finishing school par excellence for Britain's brightest talents. Both players, as it happens, started their journeys to prominence at small(ish) clubs, only to be snaffled in their youth by bigger names when their precocity became evident – Wilshere entered Luton's youth system only to be lured away by Arsenal at the age of nine, while Sturridge (having taken his first steps with Aston Villa) was taken from Coventry by Manchester City when he was 13.
Of course we'll never know what would have become of them had they not left those clubs. The coaching they have enjoyed since their departures may well have been of a higher standard, and the facilities almost certainly are. They may not have soared so high, so soon. But then again, they might have made their way to the top at a more sensible pace. Several smaller clubs might have made much-needed profits from transfer fees as the players progressed (though Coventry did make something from Sturridge in the end, a sell-on fee of around £350,000 when he joined Chelsea).
They may still have spent some time at Bolton, or a club very much like Bolton, before making their way to one of the Champions League-space-hogging behemoths. Is this model not better than the big clubs simply hoovering up all the best youngsters as early and as cheaply as possible and then spitting out the ones who fail to make the grade at a later date? Last season's top four between them have 49 players currently out on loan – according to soccerbase.com – the vast majority of whom will never earn a place in their host clubs' first XIs. Something, it strikes me, is not quite right.
"Bolton's just a platform for me to try and impress everyone, not just at Chelsea but everywhere in the world," Sturridge had said on the eve of Everton game. But haven't Bolton earned the right to be more than just a platform? They should be proud of the role they are playing in the development of these players, but angry at the system that forces it upon them. 2) Scott Parker's talents aren't confined to the pitch
Carlton Cole's post-match interviews after West Ham's recovery from three goals down to draw at West Bromwich would have been remarkable enough had he just stood there in silence, so impressive was the swelling on his lip (an injury sustained while scoring his side's second goal). But, as it happens, what he said was pretty interesting, revealing the role Scott Parker played in inspiring his side's comeback.
"We were diabolical but at half-time Scott was inspirational," Cole said. "Scott was in the zone. I've never seen him like that. If you were there you would have had a tear in your eye. Scott showed a lot of passion in the changing room and it spurred us on. We didn't want to disappoint ourselves, the manager, our families and the fans. I know you could say that if you are a professional footballer then you should have that in you anyway, but sometimes you need your captain to step up like that."
The odd thing was the account given by Avram Grant, when he was asked what had happened in the West Ham dressing-room at half-time, in which no mention was made of Parker. "We just spoke about how to change the game and change the way we were playing," said the Israeli (who apparently did speak, before his captain). "Everybody was sad so I thought that my job was to make them relax."
Either way, what's clear is that Parker's leadership qualities are not confined to the pitch. It seems a long time since the Premier League had a player-manager, a position that seemed to go out of fashion after the golden years of the mid-to-late 1990s when Trevor Francis, Gordon Strachan, Stuart Pearce (a hyphen-tastic caretaker-player-manager at Nottingham Forest), Glenn Hoddle, Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli all had a go. Could Parker and West Ham, or indeed another club, one day buck the trend? 3) West Bromwich still have hope
Graham Dorrans was supposed to be West Brom's star this season. The Scot was unstoppable as the Baggies won promotion from the Championship last season, racking up 13 goals (equal with Chris Brunt as the club's top scorer) and 19 assists (the most in the league), and winning the divisional PFA player of the season award. In the summer West Ham made a clumsy attempt to sign him, and Arsenal and Manchester City were allegedly interested. But this season, nothing.
The wonderful goal he scored against West Ham was his first of the season, and the assist he collected for his side's third, his free-kick having been accidentally headed in by West Ham's Winston Reid, was just his second so far. This is scant statistical nourishment, but the merest hint that Dorrans might be returning to match-winning form should be enough to give West Bromwich at least as much encouragement as the arrival of Roy Hodgson. 4) Nani could be the luckiest footballer in Britain
Nani's season just gets better and better. After nine goals and 13 assists he is the fantasy football manager's fantasy signing, but for all the moments of quality it does seem that he has enjoyed a little bit of luck along the way as well. November's bizarre goal against Tottenham was probably evidence enough, but it says everything about the Portuguese's season that even when he hits a cross into the nearest defender's back it still flies into the penalty area, and that even when that cross falls three yards behind his side's lone striker, that striker improvises an incredible overhead kick to make a goal of it anyway. Incidentally, no one who saw Wayne Rooney's performance could claim that he is back to his best quite yet – his clueless contribution to the build-up to United's second goal proved that – but the way he went on to score it did remind us quite how good he will be when he gets there. Exciting times. 5) It is possible to be too good to be a holding player
On Match of the Day, Alan Hansen wrote off the possibility of Jack Wilshere becoming a holding midfielder. "Never," the Scot insisted, "he's too good to be a holding player." Hansen is not alone in thinking that the Arsenal man is not best suited to life as a defensive midfielder, but it had never previously crossed my mind that there is a quality threshold above which holding midfielders simply cannot pass. That's precisely the kind of tactical insight these former players are employed to pass on as pundits. Thanks, Alan. Posted by Simon Burnton Monday 14 February 2011 10.47 GMT guardian.co.uk
Daniel Sturridge knocks the ball past Tim Howard of Everton for what was his third goal in three loan games at Bolton. Photograph: Jon Super/AP 1) Instead of sending young players on loan to polish them, maybe big clubs could just not sign youthful prospects until they actually required them
Daniel Sturridge expertly scored his third goal in as many games for Bolton, where he is on loan from Chelsea. Following Jack Wilshere's success at the Reebok last season while on loan from Arsenal, Bolton are rapidly developing a reputation as a finishing school par excellence for Britain's brightest talents. Both players, as it happens, started their journeys to prominence at small(ish) clubs, only to be snaffled in their youth by bigger names when their precocity became evident Wilshere entered Luton's youth system only to be lured away by Arsenal at the age of nine, while Sturridge (having taken his first steps with Aston Villa) was taken from Coventry by Manchester City when he was 13.
Of course we'll never know what would have become of them had they not left those clubs. The coaching they have enjoyed since their departures may well have been of a higher standard, and the facilities almost certainly are. They may not have soared so high, so soon. But then again, they might have made their way to the top at a more sensible pace. Several smaller clubs might have made much-needed profits from transfer fees as the players progressed (though Coventry did make something from Sturridge in the end, a sell-on fee of around £350,000 when he joined Chelsea).
They may still have spent some time at Bolton, or a club very much like Bolton, before making their way to one of the Champions League-space-hogging behemoths. Is this model not better than the big clubs simply hoovering up all the best youngsters as early and as cheaply as possible and then spitting out the ones who fail to make the grade at a later date? Last season's top four between them have 49 players currently out on loan according to soccerbase.com the vast majority of whom will never earn a place in their host clubs' first XIs. Something, it strikes me, is not quite right.
"Bolton's just a platform for me to try and impress everyone, not just at Chelsea but everywhere in the world," Sturridge had said on the eve of Everton game. But haven't Bolton earned the right to be more than just a platform? They should be proud of the role they are playing in the development of these players, but angry at the system that forces it upon them. 2) Scott Parker's talents aren't confined to the pitch
Carlton Cole's post-match interviews after West Ham's recovery from three goals down to draw at West Bromwich would have been remarkable enough had he just stood there in silence, so impressive was the swelling on his lip (an injury sustained while scoring his side's second goal). But, as it happens, what he said was pretty interesting, revealing the role Scott Parker played in inspiring his side's comeback.
"We were diabolical but at half-time Scott was inspirational," Cole said. "Scott was in the zone. I've never seen him like that. If you were there you would have had a tear in your eye. Scott showed a lot of passion in the changing room and it spurred us on. We didn't want to disappoint ourselves, the manager, our families and the fans. I know you could say that if you are a professional footballer then you should have that in you anyway, but sometimes you need your captain to step up like that."
The odd thing was the account given by Avram Grant, when he was asked what had happened in the West Ham dressing-room at half-time, in which no mention was made of Parker. "We just spoke about how to change the game and change the way we were playing," said the Israeli (who apparently did speak, before his captain). "Everybody was sad so I thought that my job was to make them relax."
Either way, what's clear is that Parker's leadership qualities are not confined to the pitch. It seems a long time since the Premier League had a player-manager, a position that seemed to go out of fashion after the golden years of the mid-to-late 1990s when Trevor Francis, Gordon Strachan, Stuart Pearce (a hyphen-tastic caretaker-player-manager at Nottingham Forest), Glenn Hoddle, Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli all had a go. Could Parker and West Ham, or indeed another club, one day buck the trend? 3) West Bromwich still have hope
Graham Dorrans was supposed to be West Brom's star this season. The Scot was unstoppable as the Baggies won promotion from the Championship last season, racking up 13 goals (equal with Chris Brunt as the club's top scorer) and 19 assists (the most in the league), and winning the divisional PFA player of the season award. In the summer West Ham made a clumsy attempt to sign him, and Arsenal and Manchester City were allegedly interested. But this season, nothing.
The wonderful goal he scored against West Ham was his first of the season, and the assist he collected for his side's third, his free-kick having been accidentally headed in by West Ham's Winston Reid, was just his second so far. This is scant statistical nourishment, but the merest hint that Dorrans might be returning to match-winning form should be enough to give West Bromwich at least as much encouragement as the arrival of Roy Hodgson. 4) Nani could be the luckiest footballer in Britain
Nani's season just gets better and better. After nine goals and 13 assists he is the fantasy football manager's fantasy signing, but for all the moments of quality it does seem that he has enjoyed a little bit of luck along the way as well. November's bizarre goal against Tottenham was probably evidence enough, but it says everything about the Portuguese's season that even when he hits a cross into the nearest defender's back it still flies into the penalty area, and that even when that cross falls three yards behind his side's lone striker, that striker improvises an incredible overhead kick to make a goal of it anyway. Incidentally, no one who saw Wayne Rooney's performance could claim that he is back to his best quite yet his clueless contribution to the build-up to United's second goal proved that but the way he went on to score it did remind us quite how good he will be when he gets there. Exciting times. 5) It is possible to be too good to be a holding player
On Match of the Day, Alan Hansen wrote off the possibility of Jack Wilshere becoming a holding midfielder. "Never," the Scot insisted, "he's too good to be a holding player." Hansen is not alone in thinking that the Arsenal man is not best suited to life as a defensive midfielder, but it had never previously crossed my mind that there is a quality threshold above which holding midfielders simply cannot pass. That's precisely the kind of tactical insight these former players are employed to pass on as pundits. Thanks, Alan. Posted by Simon Burnton Monday 14 February 2011 10.47 GMT guardian.co.uk
Daniel Sturridge knocks the ball past Tim Howard of Everton for what was his third goal in three loan games at Bolton. Photograph: Jon Super/AP 1) Instead of sending young players on loan to polish them, maybe big clubs could just not sign youthful prospects until they actually required them
Daniel Sturridge expertly scored his third goal in as many games for Bolton, where he is on loan from Chelsea. Following Jack Wilshere's success at the Reebok last season while on loan from Arsenal, Bolton are rapidly developing a reputation as a finishing school par excellence for Britain's brightest talents. Both players, as it happens, started their journeys to prominence at small(ish) clubs, only to be snaffled in their youth by bigger names when their precocity became evident Wilshere entered Luton's youth system only to be lured away by Arsenal at the age of nine, while Sturridge (having taken his first steps with Aston Villa) was taken from Coventry by Manchester City when he was 13.
Of course we'll never know what would have become of them had they not left those clubs. The coaching they have enjoyed since their departures may well have been of a higher standard, and the facilities almost certainly are. They may not have soared so high, so soon. But then again, they might have made their way to the top at a more sensible pace. Several smaller clubs might have made much-needed profits from transfer fees as the players progressed (though Coventry did make something from Sturridge in the end, a sell-on fee of around £350,000 when he joined Chelsea).
They may still have spent some time at Bolton, or a club very much like Bolton, before making their way to one of the Champions League-space-hogging behemoths. Is this model not better than the big clubs simply hoovering up all the best youngsters as early and as cheaply as possible and then spitting out the ones who fail to make the grade at a later date? Last season's top four between them have 49 players currently out on loan according to soccerbase.com the vast majority of whom will never earn a place in their host clubs' first XIs. Something, it strikes me, is not quite right.
"Bolton's just a platform for me to try and impress everyone, not just at Chelsea but everywhere in the world," Sturridge had said on the eve of Everton game. But haven't Bolton earned the right to be more than just a platform? They should be proud of the role they are playing in the development of these players, but angry at the system that forces it upon them. 2) Scott Parker's talents aren't confined to the pitch
Carlton Cole's post-match interviews after West Ham's recovery from three goals down to draw at West Bromwich would have been remarkable enough had he just stood there in silence, so impressive was the swelling on his lip (an injury sustained while scoring his side's second goal). But, as it happens, what he said was pretty interesting, revealing the role Scott Parker played in inspiring his side's comeback.
"We were diabolical but at half-time Scott was inspirational," Cole said. "Scott was in the zone. I've never seen him like that. If you were there you would have had a tear in your eye. Scott showed a lot of passion in the changing room and it spurred us on. We didn't want to disappoint ourselves, the manager, our families and the fans. I know you could say that if you are a professional footballer then you should have that in you anyway, but sometimes you need your captain to step up like that."
The odd thing was the account given by Avram Grant, when he was asked what had happened in the West Ham dressing-room at half-time, in which no mention was made of Parker. "We just spoke about how to change the game and change the way we were playing," said the Israeli (who apparently did speak, before his captain). "Everybody was sad so I thought that my job was to make them relax."
Either way, what's clear is that Parker's leadership qualities are not confined to the pitch. It seems a long time since the Premier League had a player-manager, a position that seemed to go out of fashion after the golden years of the mid-to-late 1990s when Trevor Francis, Gordon Strachan, Stuart Pearce (a hyphen-tastic caretaker-player-manager at Nottingham Forest), Glenn Hoddle, Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli all had a go. Could Parker and West Ham, or indeed another club, one day buck the trend? 3) West Bromwich still have hope
Graham Dorrans was supposed to be West Brom's star this season. The Scot was unstoppable as the Baggies won promotion from the Championship last season, racking up 13 goals (equal with Chris Brunt as the club's top scorer) and 19 assists (the most in the league), and winning the divisional PFA player of the season award. In the summer West Ham made a clumsy attempt to sign him, and Arsenal and Manchester City were allegedly interested. But this season, nothing.
The wonderful goal he scored against West Ham was his first of the season, and the assist he collected for his side's third, his free-kick having been accidentally headed in by West Ham's Winston Reid, was just his second so far. This is scant statistical nourishment, but the merest hint that Dorrans might be returning to match-winning form should be enough to give West Bromwich at least as much encouragement as the arrival of Roy Hodgson. 4) Nani could be the luckiest footballer in Britain
Nani's season just gets better and better. After nine goals and 13 assists he is the fantasy football manager's fantasy signing, but for all the moments of quality it does seem that he has enjoyed a little bit of luck along the way as well. November's bizarre goal against Tottenham was probably evidence enough, but it says everything about the Portuguese's season that even when he hits a cross into the nearest defender's back it still flies into the penalty area, and that even when that cross falls three yards behind his side's lone striker, that striker improvises an incredible overhead kick to make a goal of it anyway. Incidentally, no one who saw Wayne Rooney's performance could claim that he is back to his best quite yet his clueless contribution to the build-up to United's second goal proved that but the way he went on to score it did remind us quite how good he will be when he gets there. Exciting times. 5) It is possible to be too good to be a holding player
On Match of the Day, Alan Hansen wrote off the possibility of Jack Wilshere becoming a holding midfielder. "Never," the Scot insisted, "he's too good to be a holding player." Hansen is not alone in thinking that the Arsenal man is not best suited to life as a defensive midfielder, but it had never previously crossed my mind that there is a quality threshold above which holding midfielders simply cannot pass. That's precisely the kind of tactical insight these former players are employed to pass on as pundits. Thanks, Alan. Posted by Simon Burnton Monday 14 February 2011 10.47 GMT guardian.co.ukSport
Ronaldo is greeted by Pele, right, at the end of the 2002 World Cup final in Yokohama, Japan, and in which the striker scored both goals in a 2-0 win. Photograph: Thomas Kienzle/AP "The head wants to go on but the body can't take any more. I think of an action but I can't do it the way I want to. It's time to go."
With those words one of the greatest of post-war footballers has just announced his retirement. Ronaldo has perhaps been in semi-retirement for some time, he has been back in Brazil with Corinthians since 2009 and more regularly hitting the headlines for partying than playing football. Yet this is a player who has performed with distinction for not only Barcelona but Real Madrid as well, not only Internazionale but also Milan.
With more than 350 career goals in club football, mostly at the very top level, and an astonishing return of 62 goals in 97 appearances for Brazil, Ronaldo's place in the pantheon of modern greats is secure. He won his first Fifa World Player of the Year award at the tender age of 20 in 1996, went on to join Zinedine Zidane as one of the only two players to be so honoured three times, won the Ballon d'Or twice, and became the highest goalscorer – with 15 – in the history of the World Cup in 2006, four years after scoring the goals that beat Germany in the 2002 final.
Those are only a selection of the highlights of a remarkable career, yet statistics and awards alone do not tell the whole story. Anyone who saw Ronaldo in his pomp in the late 90s and early years of this century saw a footballing force that was close to unstoppable. Not always as elegant as Zidane or as inventive as Lionel Messi, Ronaldo's particular speciality was a sort of head-down charge at defenders with the ball at his feet.
Using strength as well as incredibly quick feet and close control, he was frequently able to take on three or four defenders and emerge on the other side with the ball, there to either score or set up a team-mate. His all-round finishing was excellent as well; he scored plenty of goals that team-mates had helped create, but when, say, Manchester United first encountered him at Inter, it was his direct, surging runs with the ball that brought the San Siro crowd to its feet and had the air sizzling with anticipation.
That was the style of play that earned Ronaldo the Italian nickname Il Fenomeno and persuaded Real Madrid he was a must have galactico, and though he was by no means a flop in his second spell in Spain – in this country he will always be remembered for the hat-trick at Old Trafford that earned a standing ovation from home supporters, despite Manchester United just having been knocked out of the Champions League as a result – injuries began to take their toll and he was never quite the same player he had been at Barcelona or in Italy.
He was enormously popular with Bernabéu supporters but never managed to get a European Cup winners' medal with Real Madrid as the galactico experiment gradually began to fall from favour. By the end, with an all too evident weight problem, he found himself on the sidelines at Real, with Fabio Capello preferring the less talented but more reliable Ruud van Nistelrooy.
The lack of Champions League success at any of his high-profile European clubs is the only black mark on Ronaldo's CV when trying to evaluate him against other modern greats, that and the nagging suspicion that he kept playing for the right clubs at the wrong time, or vice versa.
At Barcelona and Inter he won only Uefa Cups, scoring in the final both times, for though he moved between the two for a record fee of £19m neither was the pre-eminent force at the time, either at home or abroad. Real Madrid undoubtedly were in 2002, yet Ronaldo arrived just after they had won their third final in five years, in Glasgow, and though no one knew it at the time, they were about to see their supremacy in Spain challenged by the rise of Barcelona and the increasingly obvious flaws in the galactico philosophy.
Similarly when Ronaldo joined Milan, he was cup-tied for the 2007 campaign that saw Carlo Ancelotti's side gain revenge for Istanbul by defeating Liverpool in the final in Athens, and the only Italian side to have made it to the final since was Inter last year.
So perhaps Ronaldo was unlucky in his timing or his choice of clubs – although he was usually the one agitating for a move – for there is no doubt that at his very best he would have walked into any club in the world. That is one definition of world class, there are several variations, though one can be fairly confident the description is entirely fitting in Ronaldo's case.
For several years at his peak he was the best player in the world, and rarely can there have been a forward in any era of the game who so terrified defenders. In the all-time rankings Ronaldo might have to be content with a place on the second tier, just below the total-genius level occupied by Pele, Maradona and Johan Cruyff, though in terms of being good at what he was required to do, Ronaldo could stand comparison with the very best.
His career choices may not have been ideal, his lifestyle questionable and his fitness, particularly his knees, suspect throughout, but in spite of all that Ronaldo deserves to be remembered as a remarkable player. He could be unstoppable, some of the world's best defences found him unplayable, and he had an endearingly goofy smile to go with it. Just look at one of the many YouTube compilations of his goals and best moments, and ask yourself how many other players could have done that. One of the all-time greats, without question.
Updated Feb 14, 2011 9:21 AM ET Roberto Mancini believes Manchester City are now "very close" to matching the standards set by Premier League rivals Manchester United. The Blues came unstuck in the latest derby meeting between the pair, with a 2-1 defeat suffered at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Mancini feels City were unfortunate to come out of that contest second best, though, with United requiring a wonder strike from Wayne Rooney to take the spoils. The Premier League title looks set to elude City this season, with eight points now separating them from the Red Devils, but their coach is confident the club are heading in the right direction. "We are very close to United now, very close," said Mancini. "In the five derbies I have been involved in, there is only one time when we didn't deserve to win. "And again, we didn't deserve to lose this one. But United are this much ahead [holds two fingers narrowly apart] of us and the other teams. Just by this much. It's very close. "We should improve. I have been saying this for six months but, if we come here and play like this against United, then we will be okay. I am very proud of my players and I have told them this. I think we have the right character. "After we equalised, I thought we could go on and win. United didn't play well in the second-half but Rooney's goal changed the game. This is the mentality that comes when you have been winning things for a long time. "We can change this though, because we have changed a lot and improved a lot as a team. I think we need to win one cup or one title because, if we do, then we can change the whole mentality of the team."
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manutd1107
I know you realize your manager does the same thing everytime MANU plays another big club right? I have always observed that about SAF and Man U, it stand out like a spre thumb durring the Champions League.
I think any fool can see that the gap is closing, it not rocket science. It will be fun watching this rivalry specially once City qualifies for the Champions League.
manutd1107 was watching some game from 90s. City were ok, maybe even marginally better. Yes they had a fortunate goal but we've had many fortunate goals of our own. Rooney goal made the difference which basically came out of nowhere. Other than that, I thought it was fairly equal stuff.
I dont know why some can never be objective. The man is saying United is still slightly ahead of City. The two teams overloaded the middle. No neutral observer can say City packed the bus.
SOG United 5 City 4
Saves United 3 City 3
Corner kicks United 4 City 7
Possesion United 50 City 50
I think they've closed the gap truly, methinks. The Rooney goal made the difference and, if Silva had scored in the 3rd minute, they would have packed the bus and made it very difficult.
i completely understand when the manager has to find positives in every game and keep the morale up but come on let be real? Despite Silva's miss in the 3rd minute City didnt create ANYTHING. If silva wasnt right in front of Dzeko, Dzeko's shot would have went wide. Mancini once again overloaded the middle trying not to lose the game. Stop with the none-sense that you actually tried to make a game out of it.
Restaging Saturday's card this week after the tragic events at Newbury will prove challenging. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images The temptation is to write nothing about what happened at Newbury on Saturday, but I can't do that. It was the first time I had missed the meeting in years, but even though I wasn't there, it will take a long time for me to forget the horrific events which happened – from the first time that an ashen-faced Nick Luck appeared on screen to try to explain the unexplainable, to the interview with the racecourse chairman, Christopher Spence, who blinked away tears as he spoke.
Full marks to Racing UK and Channel Four, for doing their best to bring some clarity to events as they unfolded, and to the Newbury officials who made themselves available to answer every question as honestly and openly as they could. Zero marks to the tabloid newspaper who yesterday headlined their news piece on events as "Killing Fields". I mean, seriously.
Having initially baulked at the thought of racing taking place again at the track in the next few days, I'd now relish the opportunity for the meeting to take place later this week, although the process and finances are considerably more complicated than might be imagined.
The Levy Board have already spent a not-inconsiderable sum on the cost of integrity support for Saturday's abandoned meeting, and Newbury's (unavoidable) decision to offer full refunds also leaves them with a big hole on the balance sheet. From a punting point of view, races such as the Aon Chase, the Game Spirit (would Woolcombe Folly come back into the reckoning?) and the Totesport Trophy make considerably more appeal than today's moderate action. Today's best bets, by Will Hayler
At Catterick, Mac Aeda (2.20) gets weight from main danger Eighteen Carat and has arguably his best chance yet of breaking his duck over hurdles, but he hasn't always looked the most resolute in a finish, while Jaques Vert (2.50) – a similar sort of horse in that he won a bumper first time out, but has needed time to show his true form over hurdles – is backable at a bigger price half an hour later. He looked to be finding his feet when plugging on into third last time out at Ayr.
For those happier to play at shorter prices, Keki Buku (4.00) looks a decent bet at odds-against at Plumpton. But my pick of the possible punts is at Wolverhampton with Fighter Boy (4.40), available at nearly 3-1 on Betfair, which looks perfectly fair.
Returning to action after nearly a year on the sidelines, Fighter Boy clearly has questions to answer over his fitness. But with trainer David Barron in such fine form – all seven of his runners in the last fortnight have made the frame – it looks worth taking the chance. A class act on his day, he will face tougher targets in the months ahead, but a confidence-boosting success should be on the cards today against opposition who surely wouldn't be able to match the level of form he showed when second to Rumoush in the Feilden Stakes on his most recent start. Tipping competition – a new week
Congratulations to JahLion, who sealed his victory in last week's competition with Welcome Approach (4-1) on Friday. He wins a copy of Bayardo – The life, times and legacy of an Edwardian champion by Peter Corbett. Betfair are backing this week's competition, offering as the prize a £50 bet on the Ascot Chase this Saturday, which they sponsor.
To kick things off, we'd like your tips, please, for these races: 3.30 Plumpton, 3.50 Catterick, 5.40 Wolverhampton.
As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominated races, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers. In the event of a tie at the end of the week, the winner will be that tipster who, from among those tied for the top score, posted their tips earliest on the final day.
For terms and conditions click here. Good luck!
Click here for all the day's racecards, form, stats and results.
Click here for today's latest odds. And post your tips or racing-related comments below.
Restaging Saturday's card this week after the tragic events at Newbury will prove challenging. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images The temptation is to write nothing about what happened at Newbury on Saturday, but I can't do that. It was the first time I had missed the meeting in years, but even though I wasn't there, it will take a long time for me to forget the horrific events which happened from the first time that an ashen-faced Nick Luck appeared on screen to try to explain the unexplainable, to the interview with the racecourse chairman, Christopher Spence, who blinked away tears as he spoke.
Full marks to Racing UK and Channel Four, for doing their best to bring some clarity to events as they unfolded, and to the Newbury officials who made themselves available to answer every question as honestly and openly as they could. Zero marks to the tabloid newspaper who yesterday headlined their news piece on events as "Killing Fields". I mean, seriously.
Having initially baulked at the thought of racing taking place again at the track in the next few days, I'd now relish the opportunity for the meeting to take place later this week, although the process and finances are considerably more complicated than might be imagined.
The Levy Board have already spent a not-inconsiderable sum on the cost of integrity support for Saturday's abandoned meeting, and Newbury's (unavoidable) decision to offer full refunds also leaves them with a big hole on the balance sheet. From a punting point of view, races such as the Aon Chase, the Game Spirit (would Woolcombe Folly come back into the reckoning?) and the Totesport Trophy make considerably more appeal than today's moderate action. Today's best bets, by Will Hayler
At Catterick, Mac Aeda (2.20) gets weight from main danger Eighteen Carat and has arguably his best chance yet of breaking his duck over hurdles, but he hasn't always looked the most resolute in a finish, while Jaques Vert (2.50) a similar sort of horse in that he won a bumper first time out, but has needed time to show his true form over hurdles is backable at a bigger price half an hour later. He looked to be finding his feet when plugging on into third last time out at Ayr.
For those happier to play at shorter prices, Keki Buku (4.00) looks a decent bet at odds-against at Plumpton. But my pick of the possible punts is at Wolverhampton with Fighter Boy (4.40), available at nearly 3-1 on Betfair, which looks perfectly fair.
Returning to action after nearly a year on the sidelines, Fighter Boy clearly has questions to answer over his fitness. But with trainer David Barron in such fine form all seven of his runners in the last fortnight have made the frame it looks worth taking the chance. A class act on his day, he will face tougher targets in the months ahead, but a confidence-boosting success should be on the cards today against opposition who surely wouldn't be able to match the level of form he showed when second to Rumoush in the Feilden Stakes on his most recent start. Tipping competition a new week
Congratulations to JahLion, who sealed his victory in last week's competition with Welcome Approach (4-1) on Friday. He wins a copy of Bayardo The life, times and legacy of an Edwardian champion by Peter Corbett. Betfair are backing this week's competition, offering as the prize a £50 bet on the Ascot Chase this Saturday, which they sponsor.
To kick things off, we'd like your tips, please, for these races: 3.30 Plumpton, 3.50 Catterick, 5.40 Wolverhampton.
As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominated races, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers. In the event of a tie at the end of the week, the winner will be that tipster who, from among those tied for the top score, posted their tips earliest on the final day.
For terms and conditions click here. Good luck!
Click here for all the day's racecards, form, stats and results.
Click here for today's latest odds. And post your tips or racing-related comments below.
Nürnberg's Juri Judt vies for the ball with Cristian Molinaro of Stuttgart, later described as 'a boy scout on an orientation walk'. Photograph: Marijan Murat/EPA A cold, drab Saturday in February, a construction site, a lower-end of the table match. The surroundings were decidedly prosaic but the drama worthy of one of those hammy Martin Scorsese flicks about conflicting loyalties and confused identities.
For Leonardo DiCaprio read Julian Schieber, 22, from the Swabian town of Backnang. On a mission deep behind enemy lines – or as an enemy behind friendly lines, maybe – the striker was desperately trying to do the right thing without necessarily knowing what that was. His uncertainty reached a climax late in the second half when he encouraged Stuttgart's Serdar Tasci to get up from the pitch after a foul. "Come on Serdar, come on," Schieber shouted, all too aware that he himself had metaphorically floored the former Germany defender to begin with and that he had been his mate's chief tormentor that afternoon.
First the forward scored a header when Tasci got his angles all wrong. Schieber, on loan at Nürnberg, had promised he would not celebrate a goal against his hometown club and looked positively uncomfortable after putting the visitors 2-0 up. "He laid on the floor as if struck down by melancholy," wrote Süddeutsche Zeitung about the unusual sight in the partially rebuilt Mercedes-Benz Arena.
Six minutes after the interval, he set up Nürnberg's third and decisive goal with a fine pass to Timothy Chandler. Schieber seemed even less happy and who could blame him? He was not just defeating his own club, he was plunging them into a full-blown existentialist crisis. "It was very difficult for me but I had to give everything for my current team," he said later, by way of apology.
Stuttgart conceded a fourth (Mehmet Ekici, 62) and simply gave up. One of the wealthiest, most ambitious clubs in the Bundesliga are 17th in the table and the apocalyptic scenario of relegation looks a distinct possibility. A shocked Stuttgarter Nachrichten witnessed "signs of a downfall": the team, they felt, were "unable to activate the self-preservation drive". Chandler summed it up best. "We didn't expect Stuttgart to be this bad," the 20-year-old midfielder said.
VfB supporters, it is fair to say, are demanding and pretty inpatient at the best of times. These days, they do not know who to boo first. On Saturday they turned on Tasci, jeering him at every touch. It made a change from the traditional anti-board chants but did not exactly help matters. "We wanted [to win], but couldn't," was Bruno Labbadia's attempt to explain the inexplicable capitulation.
At another club, the 45-year-old would be fearing the sack at this stage, but he is already the third coach of the season and probably their best. The odd tactical mistake or line-up mishap aside, there is little he could have done – the playing staff are simply unrecognisable.
"€8m man Zdravko Kuzmanovic is a pantomime footballer," added Stuttgarter Nachrichten. "He's always around but never quite there. Cristian Molinaro, an Italian international for a short time, seems like a kind of boy scout on an orientation walk. Matthieu Delpierre has the jumping power of an aircraft carrier and Tasci is about as mobile as a ticket booth."
The sporting director, Fredi Bobic, can point to a storm of injuries, out-of-form key players (Delpierre, Cacau) and general loss of confidence – "we have mental problems". But Stuttgart's troubles surely go deeper. After winning the championship in 2007 with a young, exciting team, they have lost their way, skidding from one knee-jerk decision to the next and getting it all wrong in the transfer market.
Horst Heldt, now in an unidentified role at Schalke that seems to entail the rummaging through Felix Magath's box of "funny" spectacles, is one of the main culprits. His list of flops is long and unsightly, like Lady Gaga's decommissioned olfactory organ.
It was not a very good idea to let successive managers choose their favourite players and now Bobic has happily chipped in too. Getting the over-the-hill Mauro Camoranesi from Juventus was some kind of masterstroke. The 34-year-old's contract was torn up after only seven disappointing experiences. Equally brilliant: Bobic jumped on the Shinji Kagawa bandwagon and signed Shinji Okazaki from Shimizu S-Pulse in January, but neglected to sort out the paperwork in time. Four games into the second half of the season, the striker is still sitting in the stands, waiting for Fifa clearance.
"If anything can save this team, it is their relegation battle rivals who are even worse," wrote Stuttgarter Zeitung, with a vague sense of optimism. Somewhat worryingly, the players seem to buy into this "not bad enough to go down" line, too.
"It's still in our hands," said Tasci. "There are plenty of games left," added Delpierre. It is a pity that the one VfB player who has truly adopted the necessary mind-set for a dog-fight against the drop cannot do anything for them. If he's really unlucky, poor Julian Schieber might soon find himself in the wrong kind of title race, in the Second Division.
"I'm looking forward to his return in the summer," said Bobic. Talking points to follow
• Only in Germany department: a concerned teacher has asked authorities to look into Julian Draxler's recent appearances for Schalke 04. The 17-year-old prodigy played two night games, in the cup win against Nürnberg and the 0-0 draw against Dortmund, in possible violation of employment law. Article 14 of the youth worker protection law states that minors are not allowed to work after 8pm. Permitted exceptions include baking, gastronomy, work in amusement parks or artistic performances. None of these categories would seem to fit football, let alone Schalke matches. Despite the legal uncertainties, the authorities are unlikely to intervene. "It's not as if we're bussing in a coach-load of 15-year-olds to check tickets late at night," said a S04 spokesperson.
• Draxler was an 84th-minute sub in the laboured 1-0 win over Freiburg – an afternoon match. Jefferson Farfán scored the winner (49min) in a game that was not even remotely as entertaining as Magath's first foray into the crazy world of social networking. The embattled autocrat has started a Facebook page in an effort to be seen as more accessible by the supporters. If only Hosni Mubarak had been as progressive.
• It's the award season and Matthias – no relation to Mad Jens – Lehmann got in on the act(ing). The St Pauli midfielder made out he was hit by Igor de Camargo's hint of a head-butt, fell to the floor and got Gladbach's Brazilian midfielder sent off. Against the 10-man visitors, St Pauli managed to turn the game around and win 3-1. "It's his problem," said Lehmann after the final whistle. "I'd be stupid if I didn't accept such a gift. Why should I not go to ground when we're 0-1 down?" It's the kind of honesty that may yet get him into trouble with the German FA but any retrospective punishment will come to late for De Camargo (one-match ban) and the manager Michael Frontzeck (sacked on Sunday). The Swiss coach Lucien Favre will be entrusted to save the Foals from relegation. It's an interesting appointment. In his last job, he took Hertha BSC down.
• Another slightly disappointing draw for leaders Dortmund (1-1 away to Kaiserslautern) enabled Leverkusen and Bayern to close the enormous gap to 10 and 13 points, respectively. In Munich, the champions had little trouble to destroy Hoffenheim 4-0; the return of Arjen Robben (two goals) and Franck Ribéry had resulted in a more logical line-up with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Thomas Müller (one goal) in their preferred positions. Mario Gómez (one goal) struck the only off-note with a new, Alannah Currie-inspired barnet.
• There was even hairier stuff in the Bayer camp, their effortless 3-0 win away to Frankfurt nothwithstanding. The coach Jupp Heynckes had ordered Michael Ballack to warm up for most of the second half, but never brought him on. The next day, Germany's nominal captain picked up a timely knee injury. "It's high time they talk," wrote Kicker about the impending trouble. It's unclear whether Ballack will travel to the Ukraine for Leverkusen's Europa League encounter with Metalist Kharkov on Thursday but a frosty atmosphere is guaranteed. Meteorologists predict temperatures of minus 20C. Results: Bayern 4-0 Hoffenheim, Stuttgart 1-4 Nürnberg, Frankfurt 0-3 Leverkusen, St Pauli 3-1 Gladbach, Schalke 1-0 Freiburg, Lautern 1-1 Dortmund, Wolfsburg 0-1 Hamburg, Köln 4-1 Mainz, Bremen 1-1 Hannover. Latest Bundesliga table
Nürnberg's Juri Judt vies for the ball with Cristian Molinaro of Stuttgart, later described as 'a boy scout on an orientation walk'. Photograph: Marijan Murat/EPA A cold, drab Saturday in February, a construction site, a lower-end of the table match. The surroundings were decidedly prosaic but the drama worthy of one of those hammy Martin Scorsese flicks about conflicting loyalties and confused identities.
For Leonardo DiCaprio read Julian Schieber, 22, from the Swabian town of Backnang. On a mission deep behind enemy lines or as an enemy behind friendly lines, maybe the striker was desperately trying to do the right thing without necessarily knowing what that was. His uncertainty reached a climax late in the second half when he encouraged Stuttgart's Serdar Tasci to get up from the pitch after a foul. "Come on Serdar, come on," Schieber shouted, all too aware that he himself had metaphorically floored the former Germany defender to begin with and that he had been his mate's chief tormentor that afternoon.
First the forward scored a header when Tasci got his angles all wrong. Schieber, on loan at Nürnberg, had promised he would not celebrate a goal against his hometown club and looked positively uncomfortable after putting the visitors 2-0 up. "He laid on the floor as if struck down by melancholy," wrote Süddeutsche Zeitung about the unusual sight in the partially rebuilt Mercedes-Benz Arena.
Six minutes after the interval, he set up Nürnberg's third and decisive goal with a fine pass to Timothy Chandler. Schieber seemed even less happy and who could blame him? He was not just defeating his own club, he was plunging them into a full-blown existentialist crisis. "It was very difficult for me but I had to give everything for my current team," he said later, by way of apology.
Stuttgart conceded a fourth (Mehmet Ekici, 62) and simply gave up. One of the wealthiest, most ambitious clubs in the Bundesliga are 17th in the table and the apocalyptic scenario of relegation looks a distinct possibility. A shocked Stuttgarter Nachrichten witnessed "signs of a downfall": the team, they felt, were "unable to activate the self-preservation drive". Chandler summed it up best. "We didn't expect Stuttgart to be this bad," the 20-year-old midfielder said.
VfB supporters, it is fair to say, are demanding and pretty inpatient at the best of times. These days, they do not know who to boo first. On Saturday they turned on Tasci, jeering him at every touch. It made a change from the traditional anti-board chants but did not exactly help matters. "We wanted [to win], but couldn't," was Bruno Labbadia's attempt to explain the inexplicable capitulation.
At another club, the 45-year-old would be fearing the sack at this stage, but he is already the third coach of the season and probably their best. The odd tactical mistake or line-up mishap aside, there is little he could have done the playing staff are simply unrecognisable.
"8m man Zdravko Kuzmanovic is a pantomime footballer," added Stuttgarter Nachrichten. "He's always around but never quite there. Cristian Molinaro, an Italian international for a short time, seems like a kind of boy scout on an orientation walk. Matthieu Delpierre has the jumping power of an aircraft carrier and Tasci is about as mobile as a ticket booth."
The sporting director, Fredi Bobic, can point to a storm of injuries, out-of-form key players (Delpierre, Cacau) and general loss of confidence "we have mental problems". But Stuttgart's troubles surely go deeper. After winning the championship in 2007 with a young, exciting team, they have lost their way, skidding from one knee-jerk decision to the next and getting it all wrong in the transfer market.
Horst Heldt, now in an unidentified role at Schalke that seems to entail the rummaging through Felix Magath's box of "funny" spectacles, is one of the main culprits. His list of flops is long and unsightly, like Lady Gaga's decommissioned olfactory organ.
It was not a very good idea to let successive managers choose their favourite players and now Bobic has happily chipped in too. Getting the over-the-hill Mauro Camoranesi from Juventus was some kind of masterstroke. The 34-year-old's contract was torn up after only seven disappointing experiences. Equally brilliant: Bobic jumped on the Shinji Kagawa bandwagon and signed Shinji Okazaki from Shimizu S-Pulse in January, but neglected to sort out the paperwork in time. Four games into the second half of the season, the striker is still sitting in the stands, waiting for Fifa clearance.
"If anything can save this team, it is their relegation battle rivals who are even worse," wrote Stuttgarter Zeitung, with a vague sense of optimism. Somewhat worryingly, the players seem to buy into this "not bad enough to go down" line, too.
"It's still in our hands," said Tasci. "There are plenty of games left," added Delpierre. It is a pity that the one VfB player who has truly adopted the necessary mind-set for a dog-fight against the drop cannot do anything for them. If he's really unlucky, poor Julian Schieber might soon find himself in the wrong kind of title race, in the Second Division.
"I'm looking forward to his return in the summer," said Bobic. Talking points to follow
Only in Germany department: a concerned teacher has asked authorities to look into Julian Draxler's recent appearances for Schalke 04. The 17-year-old prodigy played two night games, in the cup win against Nürnberg and the 0-0 draw against Dortmund, in possible violation of employment law. Article 14 of the youth worker protection law states that minors are not allowed to work after 8pm. Permitted exceptions include baking, gastronomy, work in amusement parks or artistic performances. None of these categories would seem to fit football, let alone Schalke matches. Despite the legal uncertainties, the authorities are unlikely to intervene. "It's not as if we're bussing in a coach-load of 15-year-olds to check tickets late at night," said a S04 spokesperson.
Draxler was an 84th-minute sub in the laboured 1-0 win over Freiburg an afternoon match. Jefferson Farfán scored the winner (49min) in a game that was not even remotely as entertaining as Magath's first foray into the crazy world of social networking. The embattled autocrat has started a Facebook page in an effort to be seen as more accessible by the supporters. If only Hosni Mubarak had been as progressive.
It's the award season and Matthias no relation to Mad Jens Lehmann got in on the act(ing). The St Pauli midfielder made out he was hit by Igor de Camargo's hint of a head-butt, fell to the floor and got Gladbach's Brazilian midfielder sent off. Against the 10-man visitors, St Pauli managed to turn the game around and win 3-1. "It's his problem," said Lehmann after the final whistle. "I'd be stupid if I didn't accept such a gift. Why should I not go to ground when we're 0-1 down?" It's the kind of honesty that may yet get him into trouble with the German FA but any retrospective punishment will come to late for De Camargo (one-match ban) and the manager Michael Frontzeck (sacked on Sunday). The Swiss coach Lucien Favre will be entrusted to save the Foals from relegation. It's an interesting appointment. In his last job, he took Hertha BSC down.
Another slightly disappointing draw for leaders Dortmund (1-1 away to Kaiserslautern) enabled Leverkusen and Bayern to close the enormous gap to 10 and 13 points, respectively. In Munich, the champions had little trouble to destroy Hoffenheim 4-0; the return of Arjen Robben (two goals) and Franck Ribéry had resulted in a more logical line-up with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Thomas Müller (one goal) in their preferred positions. Mario Gómez (one goal) struck the only off-note with a new, Alannah Currie-inspired barnet.
There was even hairier stuff in the Bayer camp, their effortless 3-0 win away to Frankfurt nothwithstanding. The coach Jupp Heynckes had ordered Michael Ballack to warm up for most of the second half, but never brought him on. The next day, Germany's nominal captain picked up a timely knee injury. "It's high time they talk," wrote Kicker about the impending trouble. It's unclear whether Ballack will travel to the Ukraine for Leverkusen's Europa League encounter with Metalist Kharkov on Thursday but a frosty atmosphere is guaranteed. Meteorologists predict temperatures of minus 20C. Results: Bayern 4-0 Hoffenheim, Stuttgart 1-4 Nürnberg, Frankfurt 0-3 Leverkusen, St Pauli 3-1 Gladbach, Schalke 1-0 Freiburg, Lautern 1-1 Dortmund, Wolfsburg 0-1 Hamburg, Köln 4-1 Mainz, Bremen 1-1 Hannover. Latest Bundesliga table
Barcelona's Andrés Iniesta is tackled during the 1-1 draw with Sporting Gíjon. Photograph: Alvaro Barrientos/AP Manolo Preciado played his moustache like it was a harmonica, air racing out of his lungs, through the foliage and into the room. "Uuf," he said. "Uuf, joder." ****. Crafty fag extinguished, voice coarse and rough, language even more coarse and even more rough, so deep the floor vibrated, he shifted behind a giant bottle of Fuensanta, official water of Sporting Gijón, and played it again. "Uuf," he said, "a month ago we'd have lost 6-1." But this was not a month ago and Sporting did not lose 6-1. Instead, on Saturday night they drew 1-1 with FC Barcelona. And if draws are the new defeats for the big two, then draws against the big two are the new victories for everyone else. "This," Preciado said, "is a fantastic prize."
Outside, the fans could not agree more. Along the front, cold Atlantic smashing up against the sea walls, illuminated at one end by the Molinón, at the other by the church of San Pedro and in the middle by the moon, they were still celebrating. "Lo han pasado de puta madre", Preciado said: the fans have had a prostitute mother of a time. They had, too. This was a proper match in a proper stadium.
Intense and edgy and loud – really, really loud. And with a happy ending. Fans roared at the final whistle as players embraced and Preciado leapt about punching the air. The red and white card from the pre-game mosaic – what was left of it after 90 minutes spent sending paper airplanes heading towards the turf – was tossed to the air in glee.
The banner at one end had declared: "Sporting Gijón, giant-killers since 1957."
Killers? Perhaps not, but the giant had eventually pulled up exhausted and offered his hand. At the offices of Asturias's oldest newspaper El Comercio they were finishing their cover: "And David stopped Goliath." AS were preparing a colossal ¡COLOSAL!. As for Preciado, he had described Pep Guardiola as "God"; now he was playing the iconoclast. Back in 1960-61, Alfredo Di Stéfano's Real Madrid won 15 games in a row and travelled to Asturias. The run came to an end with a draw against Real Oviedo. Fifty years later, Barcelona surpassed that record, won 16 games in a row and travelled to Asturias. Their run came to an end with a draw against Sporting Gijón.
Sporting, declared La Nueva España, imagining its panting hero diving for the cable as the final seconds ticked away and the planet held its breath, "unplugged the machine".
As draws go, this was one hell of a victory. Despite the fact that it could have been an actual victory. After all, Sporting led for an hour. Leo Messi lost out on the edge of the penalty area and committed a foul. As the stadium howled for a free-kick and a card, the referee instead waved play on. David Barral sprinted up the left, dashed inside and went past Gerard Piqué with a shimmy that doubled up as a warning that the centre-back shouldn't necessarily believe everything his missus tells him –hips do lie. Easing past Gabi Milito, he smashed it into the bottom corner. "I could not have dreamed it better," he said. The noise made your ears bleed.
If Sporting were worth their lead, the second half was a different story. Eventually, David Villa's clever chip levelled it in the 79th minute. It was the fifth time he had scored against Sporting and the fifth time he had refused to celebrate. It was described as the "cruellest Vaseline" – although frankly you can imagine worse – but still Sporting's players said it "tasted like a win". Not just because it was against Barcelona but because of what it symbolised for Sporting. About both their past and their future.
Getting something out of a Barcelona side without Sergio Busquets and Carles Puyol, both of whom were absent the last two times they dropped points in the league this season, might have made the task look a little easier. Getting something out of Barcelona when they're suffering what the Spanish describe as the Fifa virus might have looked even easier yet – they have won just six of 19 games immediately after an international break. But, still, getting something out of the side that had won 16 on the trot looked very nearly impossible. For Sporting it looked very really impossible.
Correction: for that Sporting it would have been very really impossible. Preciado was right: a month ago Sporting might have lost 6-1. And Preciado might have been out of a job. When Diego Castro scored an 89th-minute equaliser against Deportivo de La Coruña in week 16, he ran 60 yards to embrace Preciado. But if he thought the goal had saved his coach's job, he was wrong. The following week, Sporting were beaten 2-1 by Málaga. They had gone 10 weeks without a win and were bottom. The first division's longest-serving coach was about to get the sack. The president Manuel Vega-Arango called a meeting for the Monday morning. "I fully expected to wake up in the morning, look on the internet, turn to my girlfriend and say: 'Sweetheart, it's over'," Preciado admitted.
It wasn't. Not so much because Preciado, a potty-mouthed, funny, earthy coach, is as popular with most of the players as he is with journalists and other coaches in the game – he reckons that the closeness of their relationship was a problem, making them even more desperate to win – but because someone reminded Vega-Arango of something he had said at the Christmas lunch: "I'll leave this club before Preciado does." Prisoner of his own words, Vega-Arango hung fire. Preciado told his players he wouldn't die of hunger, even if he was sacked; he was in a job that "shouldn't even be called a job and on top of that the pay is the bollocks"; he told them that, having lost his career as a doctor because of a players' strike, having lost his wife and his son, he would recover.
Again, they rescued him. Against Racing Santander, Diego Castro scored a 91st-minute equaliser. And then it happened. Sporting started winning.
They beat Hércules 2-0, Atlético 1-0 and Mallorca 4-0. They had gone from bottom of the table to 12th, on the verge of the top half. Sure, they then lost 3-0 to Athletic but now they had only gone and got a draw with Barcelona. Twelve points in eight games – more than half their total for the entire season. "If it hadn't been for Castro in the 91st minute against Racing and the 89th minute against Depor, I would have been sacked," Preciado said on Saturday night. "And then everything changed. But while we were on a horrendous run, it was a half a lie. You lose in the 95th minute to Villarreal and you think, joder, why is this happening? We haven't changed anything really; there has just been a psychological question. Plus the fans: today they carried us to this result. And there's been a bit of luck. A month ago we would have lost 6-1 and now we have drawn with the best team in the world."
"It is," he said, "pointing at his head, "all in here." Now, that might seem like a pretty inadequate excuse but it's also a compelling one. The search for a catch-all reason is a fruitless one. Sporting's fans have played their part, unity too, but sometimes the explanation appears almost pathetically simple: there is no explanation. Against Racing it was a last-minute equaliser; against Hércules, Sporting's first goal came with their first shot, after 23 seconds, and the second with their second; against Atlético comedy defending gifted them the win; against Mallorca they scored four, sure, and collected their first away win of the season, but even then they scored with every shot on target. And against Barcelona, though it was a hugely impressive, full of fight and organisation and effort, it had finished 6-1 in shots on target. To Barcelona.
Still they had become only the third team this season to even collect a point from Barcelona."This will give us a real morale boost," Preciado said, "the putada [the bitch, the bummer] is that it's only one point. They should give us more for this." They should but they don't. Three would have taken them to 12th. With Levante, Racing, Hércules and Deportivo all winning, with even Malaga getting a point, one means that climb to 12th has become a slip to 16th, a solitary point from the relegation zone.
"I always said that we weren't dead or decomposing back then," Preciado said. But they're not entirely safe now, either. And that's not the only tinge of regret. The winners from Saturday night weren't just Sporting and Preciado; the biggest winners were Real Madrid. For Sporting this was one point, for Madrid it was two. They took advantage to climb back to just five points behind Barcelona. Earlier in the season, José Mourinho and Manolo Preciado had a very public fight after the Madrid manager accused his Sporting counterpart of throwing his match at the Camp Nou by playing seven subs in a 1-0 defeat and Preciado called him a scumbag; when Madrid travelled to Sporting, it kicked off in the car park.
Preciado recently insisted that all is forgotten and that he would "go for beer with Mourinho tomorrow". Yeah, and this time Mourinho is paying. Week 23 Results and talking points:
• Real Madrid closed the gap on Barcelona after a 1-0 win against Espanyol, despite playing virtually the whole game with 10 men. Iker Casillas was sent off for a challenge (with a very slight contact) on Jedward after just 81 seconds. "The whole of Spain thought we wouldn't win when that happened," said José Mourinho afterwards. If so, the whole of Spain is pretty silly. Madrid had entered into Mourinho territory. Marcelo scored a belter – although someone could do with telling Carlos Kameni that you're supposed to dive into the way of the ball not out of it – and Madrid should really have had more and killed the game sooner with Emmanuel Adebayor wasting a couple of wonderful chances. Casillas's sending off has provoked all sorts of debate, but no one seems to be asking the obvious question: why didn't José Callejón even try to stay on his feet?
• Levante win three in a row. Bloody hell. It won't last, though: they go to Real Madrid this weekend coming. It's getting tight down at the bottom with everyone getting points. Depor won 1-0 against Villarreal through Lopo – who was sporting a proper beard – in a game that led to Villarreal losing third place. Hero Farinós scored for Hércules against recently-improved Zaragoza. But Málaga can't buy a win. Which is kind of ironic, really.
• Atlético lost again but the fans decided that they weren't going to go for Quique Sánchez Flores. Instead they went for the men who were actually (more) guilty – Miguel-Angel Gil Marín and Enrique Cerezo. Which seems to have kept the coach's job for now – after all, they don't want to remove a potential shield or make another unpopular move – but for how long?
• Mental game of the weekend came in Santander where Racing beat Sevilla 3-2 – sad, sad Sevilla – with a last-minute winner. And a mental game gave way to a mental reaction from the new owner Ali Sayed, who was going absolutely bonkers up in the directors' box while José María del Nido sat stony-faced alongside him. It was pretty unedifying. But, let's face it, it was also pretty funny. And few are feeling sorry for the team where the legendary wind-up merchant Cristobal Soria works. Racing were under new management, with Marcelino back at the club after Miguel Angel Portugal was sacked. This morning Osasuna have confirmed that Portugal's former Real Madrid team-mate has been sacked too. Just two weeks after beating Madrid. Is there a warning there for Preciado?
• It was the perfect weekend for Sporting fans. They got a great result against the world's best team. No, not Barcelona on Saturday night; local rivals Oviedo on Sunday night in the pouring rain at the Tartiere. A dire match finished Real Oviedo 0–1 Sporting B and even the sale of the club has fallen through. First Division Oviedo remain a Second Division B side. Real Oviedo, SOS! Results: Atlético 1–2 Valencia, Sporting 1–1 Barcelona, Racing 3–2 Sevilla, Hércules 2–1 Zaragoza, Málaga 2–2 Getafe, Levante 1–0 Almería, Real Sociedad 1-0 Osasuna, Deportivo 1–0 Villarreal, Espanyol 0–1 Madrid. Graveyard shift: Mallorca-Athletic. Latest La Liga standings Posted by Sid Lowe Monday 14 February 2011 14.33 GMT guardian.co.uk
Sporting show Arsenal how to stifle Barça Sporting Gijón ended Barcelona's 16-match winning run with a 1-1 draw ahead of Arsenal's Champions League game against the Spanish champions
Thanks for the kind words, but with ten minutes left, I was gutted! Took a truly exceptional goal, and from a Sportinguista no less, to even restore parity though, so there's plenty of comfort to take. I only wish we could play like that against the teams around us.
Gabi Milito has looked utter, utter crap this season. The Camacho sacking has been coming for weeks apparently, despite the result against Real Madrid; Mendilibar was the rumour I heard about 3 weeks ago. I'm not complaining - the Real Sociedad result saw my accumulator coming up. I had a double on with a Valencia victory. Happy days. The Caparrós-Sevilla rumour won't die: As were all over it during the week, and Del Nido only confirmed that Manzano would be in his job until July. I didn't know the sale of Real Oviedo had fallen through, that is sad.
I hope to God Sporting stay up - the league would be far worse without them. I won't begrudge them the draw, as they need the point more than Barça.
Malaga can't buy a win? Hmm... I see possibilities for a Mastercard ad there.
Kudos to Madrid in fairness - winning in the Cornella, after losing Casillas and playing practically the whole game with ten men takes quality.
Shame about Camacho - I have a feeling that sacking him will prove to be counter-productive for Osasuna.
massive respect to Sporting, they played like lions and were worth the draw. but Barca were good, too. the amount of moves they put together where they'd dance through 4-5 Sporting players was incredible. and only great blocking and a fantastic performance from Cuéllar kept the score to what it was. took a moment of genius from Villa to finally break through. can't believe that chance Pedro missed at the end! Kameni is such an idiot. he's either world-class or pub-level. he doesn't seem to have an inbetween. how the hell do you dive out of the way of a shot? still, Marcelo is criminally underrated. he's not that solid defensively but he contributes so much in attack you have to give him props.
El Efecto Ali en la tele.
The rough and the smooth.
Anybody who pumps millions of Euros into a club has every right to jump up and down when the team score a spectacular winner in the last minute to go 3-2 ahead. The fans also pay money to see this, albeit less than Mr Ali, and everyone in the ground was doing exactly the same. Nobody complained when Felipe and Letizia did a similar jig at the world cup final in front of the Dutch royal family. Saturday night was a final for Racing in a way with a lot of built up tension being released. Fourth from bottom and not having recently a lot to cheer about. The last home win was 28th of November 1647.
I read it was disrespectful to del Nido. Well sod Sevilla´s Mr Correctness. Of course El Preseeedente and El Alcalde looked rather grumpy. Do they even like football? Mind you they never pay. Revilla missed the winning goal as he was still downing his half time bucket of brandy as he had to eat his cow pie at dinner time with water to respect the new owners religious beliefs.
Mr Alis bodyguards were I D ed before the game by the Policia National and the Mercs were searched. "No guns were found." What is slightly more worrying is his 4 car motorcade screaming at high speed around town, wheeling spinning and shooting red lights. Although this type of driving seems quite popular in Spain.
I have lost count of the number of Racing players who have crashed their cars pissed at 5 in the morning and these incidents do not even get reported.
It seems that the only interesting weekends in La Liga are when Real or Barca drop points. It is also weird when a whole season of football feels like a procession. The bottom 18 teams in La Liga are an insult to football- this whole article is about celebrating Barca dropping a point..
I didn't manage to catch any other Lliga this weekend, was super-busy. but why sack Camacho? and just what the hell is wrong with Atleti? how does boardroom incompetence filter down so completely? speaking of incompetence: Gabi Milito. that is all. still, Sporting's turnaround is such a great story (although an article investigating why Barca are so consistently bad post-international break would be interesting too) and this article links nicely with the one you did earlier after the 0-1 loss to Madrid. also: sad to see Villarreal lose, but it would be kind of cool if the Riazor could become a real fortress again. oh and what price Raul to score on his return to Spain this midweek?
The title race is wide open again! Very, very, VERY poor performance from barca v sporting. Xavi, iniesta, messi, nowhere to be seen. Pique and milito making squillaci look like a good defender. Training cancelled yesterday becaause the players were 'too tired' acorind to Guardiola. 'El virus FIFA'. Excellent. The Casillas sending off is one of THE most disgraceful deciisons a ref has made against Real this season...and that takes some beating! Minimal contact. Casillas wasn't even the last man because Pepe was catching up behind not to mention that ridiculous dive from Callejon. What a despicable player (much like javi marquez and chica amongst others). Spent more time on the ground yesterday trying to get another real madrid player sent off than actually playing! Diving all over the place it was embarassing for Espanyol. No wonder we got rid of this poor mans jedward! You never saw him diving when he was put in clean through later in the game though. Baffling decision from the officiating team but that was in keeping with the tone of the game really. Adebayor doing his utmost to emulate Benzema and miss the most unmissable of tap ins. TWICE. Good to see Mourinho trying to discourage marcelo from using that imaginary ''show him the yellow/red card' hand gesture. Although I don't blame marcelo for doing it. Resilient world class defensive display from Real coinciding with the return of carvalho and pepe...the best defensive partnership in europe! Marcelo man of the match for me just ahead of Ronaldo (who could quite easily have had 4 assists and a brace). The brazilian full back was a beast last night. Copa Del Rey final...La liga still possible..champions league coming up soon...life looking good! Arriba Merengues! Abajo Barca!
Sid, have u written about Valencia lately? Despite losing the crown jewels of Villa and Silva, they've done incredibly well and seem to be on course to finishing in the CL spots when I actually thought they'd implode !! How is their financial position now? Any chance Arsenal can make a cheeky bid for Banega (who I think would be awesome with Cesc) or even Mata in the summer and be successful?
The bottom 18 teams in La Liga are an insult to football
What a genuinely retarded thing to say! As I said before, congratulations to Sporting, who were superb. Barca were shocking in the first half, but immense in the second and they defended with passion.
Fair play to Madrid too, they were the better team, anway to Espanyol with ten men, deserves respect! Kameni should of saved it, but Real had the lions share of chances so I won't begrudge them anything.
Is Pellegrini's job safe? He's clearly one of the best managers in the league, but could it be that he and Malaga just dont fit? Strange situation!
What about Monzano at Seville? I always thought of it as a Roy Hogson-esque appointment, could I be right? I mean, I know there are institutional problems at Seville, but this is ridiculous!!
i thought adebayor played really well. ok he should have scored 2 but atleast he hit the target. but he brought a dynamism which has been missing at the apex of the real madrid attack and boy did he work hard. ronaldo was fantastic too. marcelo has been great whenever i have seen him. he is fantastic in attack. not sure what to make of his defensive skills. he seem pretty competent at times but at other times his positioning is suspect. needs to learn from lord percy. despite some poor finishing the game was great in terms of seeing players running like mad. you had marcelo, ronaldo, adebayor, diarra all running full pelt. i enjoyed that
but no one seems to be asking the obvious question: why didn't José Callejón even try to stay on his feet?
because he's a big girls blouse in a big girls blouse falling over competition, previous winners of which include the bold diego capel and sergio busquets
From now onwards this is a problem Barca is going to be faced with. All games will be played like cup finals. Unless Barca score first and quickly settle into their familiar, scintillating rhythm, teams are going defend deep, crowding the central defense areas and leaving them barren space in the wings. With twelve or so teams still not safe from the chop in La liga, the only open games they are likely to get will be against the likes of Villarreal, Valencia and maybe, just maybe, Real Madrid. Champions League knock-out phase, Copa dela rey finals: It's going to feel like playing against Inter-Milan (Arsenal, take cue) twice a week.
I can't wait for the pundits to start calling for the mysterious, so-called plan B.
I thought last week end was more entertaining than the previous one. Good bit of drama on the pitch. Racing-Sevilla match was the pick of the week. Also a good win for Depo, for the few matches I've watched them they seem to be more disorganized than Levante and Zaragoza... the relegation contenders are all set for the photo finish.
Tiago Great post mate. Did we see a first park the bus practice run in the second half? I know RM could have / should have killed it in the second but it was mostly counter attacks.
At Manzanares this weekend I was more disappointed with Valencia than w my Atleti; I expected more from the visitors, to be honest - We were unlucky as well, a couple of palos, the late goal, and the absurd red card - Beginning of the game was good, but they silenced Reyes; the attacking pair is not working (maybe Forlan has finally reached his end?) and Q wouldn't throw in Diego Costa, so come on, nobody expects Raul Garcia to ever produce anything... - Anyway, Valencia I'm feeling it since the start of the season: they could be breathing RM in the back for 2nd spot, and in CL after knocking out Schalke if the draw is lucky perhaps even reach semis! - For Atletico it's probably all good if there's just the domestic competitions to focus on next year My main hope right now is that we can at least pass Sevilla, a team you cannot but dislike this season - Mr Lowe's linked piece from SI on them is really spot on too - Glad for the Racing win over them - And Casacantabria, your posts are DOPE! * Marcelo spectacular (only him though) - But let's be clear: the Espanyol players must have put money against themselves on this one: they didn't even attempt an attack all game: they didn't produce a single clear opportunity to score (a couple of lame passes goalwards in the second half hardly counts for shots), this while playing with one man more for 90 minutes - DiStefano himself, at 84, could have defended against that embarrasing joke of a display - Pochettino is such a cool guy, normally, but that was disappointing
Celti You are being melodramatic again. Did I say anything about the content of your post? No, you just assumed it again. All I said was that you guys posted early indicating that you are on here early. Nothing more nothing less.
went past Gerard Piqué with a shimmy that doubled up as a warning that the centre-back shouldn't necessarily believe everything his missus tells him –hips do lie
If Madrid had lost Mourinho would have been whinging all week about St Iker's sending off. As it was he hardly mentioned it. Funny hey? It was almost worth it to see the sods win to save ourselves the moan. As for our boys, you could so how nervous Pique was from the get go. Either Milito gets more match practice our we flog him. Messi looked knackered. And what happened to Pedro? I think its always better to start with the full team and then make substituations when we're 3-0 up. Finally, if Ronaldo hadn't been such a greedy sod and had sytayed with us, he wouldn't be retiring today!
But let's be clear: the Espanyol players must have put money against themselves on this one: they didn't even attempt an attack all game: they didn't produce a single clear opportunity to score (a couple of lame passes goalwards in the second half hardly counts for shots), this while playing with one man more for 90 minutes
Guru
Did we see a first park the bus practice run in the second half? I know RM could have / should have killed it in the second but it was mostly counter attacks.
I see Guardiola and the Barca lads took their medicine with typical grace 'I am happy we played our way, and they played with 10 men behind the ball' was the quote I heard - no wonder it is hard to truely take to this brilliant side, given the unrelenting moaning that comes from the camp on every occasion after anyone has the temerity not to bend over for them. Xavi's much lauded interview only serving to back up that perception. Not an EPL supporter either just a fan who prefers to see a team make a match of games with Barca by whatever means rather than watch the borefests that most of their games have become. And hats off to Trezequet, great to see such appetite and true class shining through.
Gihon was brilliant in the first half. But still I would say Barca was excellent in the second half. Name a single team who can play those kinds of one twos in the final third when 10 men are defending. It wasnt just their day yesterday. But its good for Barca. They wont get any more complascent. A sight touch by Iker? I didnt think so and that was a clear obstruction on a one on one goal scoring opportunity. Yellow card for sure, red depending on the referee. But didnt the referee return the favours later to RM. I saw many.
Casa is absolutely correct... Actually, I think football should take a leaf from NFL on this one, and have club bosses in private rooms where they can celebrate and / or curse as much as they like. With club honchos, as with everything else, I'll take someone who cares (even if it's mostly their money they care about) over someone who doesn't give a fig every day of the week.... Keep bosses separated, and the problem is solved, really. As for Barça losing.... if they lose again tomorrow, or the next league game, then we may be onto something, but ringing the bells for this draw sounds like clutching at straws to me. What did people expect, they winning every game until the end of times? 1st half was pretty dire, 2nd was better, and at the end of the day, Sporting was lucky to escape with a very hard fought draw. Until more evidence is provided, this is a non story, I think... Good to see Depor bouncing back... c'mon guys, just 18 points more!
@Gurufootball You may just be correct regarding the barca players taking internationals too seriously. Messi asked to to play the full 90mins v portugal whilst ronaldo was taken off after an hour. Also, the whole spain squad were desperately trying to prove to everyone that they ain't the worst world cup winners ever by managing a 1-0 home win over colombia. However i think it has to do with the enormous effort they have put in over the past 16 games which is now beginning to catch up with them.
I went to see Cornellà this weekend. That is to say, my girlfriend wanted to go to the shopping centre beside it. It is bizarre, I don't know if anyone knows the history of its construction but it must be the only football ground where you could leave a match and be in Primark within 15 seconds. I am not joking - there is a pavement separating the entrance to the Primark from the entrance to one of the stands. Anyone know if it was built as one massive project? Or was it a stadium onto which they tacked a shopping centre? The stadium itself looks great, not at all one of your identikit modern stadia, and I am keen to see a game there. It has a hugely disappointing "Memorial Space", which is a large room with sofas and the opportunity to pay to put your name on the wall. The south end looks out over the desolate El Prat and the North faces the suburban Cornellà.
Nice piece as usual, Sid. As soon as I saw Milito was starting I just knew it would be the day to drop points. I still haven't understood why Pep convinced him to stay rather than ship him off to Málaga where he would fit right in with countryman DiMichelis - both equally horrible at defending fast breaks. Surely it would be better to start Fontás than Milito in his current form?!? And better still would of course have been Abidal - he's looked so fresh recently and actually rested both games against Betis in January, so I don't understand why he had to be rested after the international game. Makes no sense. He would've saved the goal rather than be rounded like a cone the way Milito was after Piqué missed. But OK, if it had to happen, I'm glad it did against Sporting. They played their hearts out, they showed the belief the whole game and didn't collapse after the equalizer - and of course they've got Preciado. Gotta love the man. And lastly - Callejón, what a terrible cheat he is. After Mou's comments on fouls on Ronaldo v. Messi, Marca looked at the stats and concluded Callejón was actually the most persecuted player in the league - 'cos apparently the stats say he's received the most fouls. As soon as I saw it I laughed out loud (and this was before last night's antics): the only thing that stat proves is he throws himself to the ground whenever someone comes within half a yard of him and the refs keep rewarding him for it. Please don't compare him to Busquets, who at least limits his exaggerations to real contact in the face. Callejón is in a whole different league, the one once inhabited by a certain Hristo Stoichkov. He made me almost cheer for Madrid to win, and that takes a lot.
Sixth victory on a row for Real Madrid Castilla under Toril, who has completely transformed this team since taking over. Morata scored a hat-trick, with Joselu, Juan Carlos, Denis and Sarabia completing the 7-1 win over Deportivo B. Carvajal looks promising as right back, Sarabia is lively and Morata reminds me of the most intelligent Morientes version at Real Madrid with Raul as partner. It's incredible what a new coach can do in a matter of weeks. This one certainly knew his players well in the Juvenil. The talent was there but at times things just don't work out.
As soon as I saw Milito was starting I just knew it would be the day to drop points. I still haven't understood why Pep convinced him to stay rather than ship him off to Málaga
It's a shame - he was shaping up last season, especially liked the way he played in the Bernabeu Clasico - but he gets injured too much, and then has to get his form back.
A sight touch by Iker? I didnt think so and that was a clear obstruction on a one on one goal scoring opportunity. Yellow card for sure, red depending on the referee. But didnt the referee return the favours later to RM. I saw many.
Yes slight. It was Callejon staring at the ref while rolling on the turf that gives it away. Yellow for sure though. And if you mean the offside call, it wasn't, but far from returning the favor since Espanyol couldn't decide whether it was beach soccer or beach volleyball. Khedira should have had a penalty. Marcelo was onside. Should I go on?
I see Guardiola and the Barca lads took their medicine with typical grace 'I am happy we played our way, and they played with 10 men behind the ball' was the quote I heard - no wonder it is hard to truely take to this brilliant side, given the unrelenting moaning that comes from the camp on every occasion after anyone has the temerity not to bend over for them.
i'm sorry, but did you actually watch the game? because Sporting patently did play with 10 men behind the ball; even their strikers dropping back well into their own half. that's why they were successful. credit to them, they did everything a team has to do to beat Barça and were unlucky (via a moment of brilliance on the part of Villa) not to scrape out all 3 points. but there are some people posting here all too willing to ascribe bad intentions to both Barcelona and it's supporters on these blogs, where none exist. a team plays with 10 behind the ball and Guardiola or whoever describes it as such; all of a sudden that's bad form? Barça fans come onto this blog and have done nothing thus far but give Sporting credit for an exciting game well-played, all too aware of their team's problems after international breaks, and they're accused of being intemperate? we know Barcelona are a great team, but sometimes a team can be great and not have a secret evil lurking in it (or it's supporters). the same phenomenon of trying to combat imaginary or banal demons was alive and well in Hayward's column yesterday. grow up.
Finally, if Ronaldo hadn't been such a greedy sod and had sytayed with us, he wouldn't be retiring today!
I thought it was Caledron and Capello who chased him away. With the entire team falling apart goofy and no strong manager on line has a splendid time with binge and purge behavior only went worse,
'Xavi's much lauded interview only serving to back up that perception'. Im sorry that must have passed me by, i thought Xavi came across as humble and intelligent in the interview providing a good insight into the Barcelona style of play.
If Madrid had lost Mourinho would have been whinging all week about St Iker's sending off. As it was he hardly mentioned it. Funny hey?
Funny? How is it funny? It's what it has to be expected. He plays his game. Same as Pep I-never-talk-about-referees-except-when-they-harm-my-team Guardiola. All coaches have to play their cards depending on the way the game is going on., competing on the pitch to win and and playing mind games off it to influence and generate a better enviroment for their sides.
have lost count of the number of Racing players who have crashed their cars pissed at 5 in the morning and these incidents do not even get reported
.
So how come you hear about them?
Pique was getting some stick fron the Sporting fans, ''Shakira es una puta''
Still not as bad as Beckham had to contend with back in the day
All coaches have to play their cards depending on the way the game is going on., competing on the pitch to win and and playing mind games off it to influence and generate a better enviroment for their sides.
Absolutely correct. Of course Mourinho would prefer Casillas to stay in. But I guarantee you he took full advantage of the situation by uniting the team against all odds, as he did at Inter.
Nice description of Pep. Remember when he even had to apologize for insinuating Catalonia wasn't part of Spain?
As soon as I saw the starting lineup I knew Guardiola was throwing away points. Sad to say of a player that has come through the injuries he has, but playing Milito is giving away a goal or two start. Maybe he thought he would give some of his players a rest ahead of Arsenal, but in the end they all ended up knackered after chasing almost the entire game. The yellow cards will come back to bite too. Silly, silly management.
Barcelona's Andrés Iniesta is tackled during the 1-1 draw with Sporting Gíjon. Photograph: Alvaro Barrientos/AP Manolo Preciado played his moustache like it was a harmonica, air racing out of his lungs, through the foliage and into the room. "Uuf," he said. "Uuf, joder." ****. Crafty fag extinguished, voice coarse and rough, language even more coarse and even more rough, so deep the floor vibrated, he shifted behind a giant bottle of Fuensanta, official water of Sporting Gijón, and played it again. "Uuf," he said, "a month ago we'd have lost 6-1." But this was not a month ago and Sporting did not lose 6-1. Instead, on Saturday night they drew 1-1 with FC Barcelona. And if draws are the new defeats for the big two, then draws against the big two are the new victories for everyone else. "This," Preciado said, "is a fantastic prize."
Outside, the fans could not agree more. Along the front, cold Atlantic smashing up against the sea walls, illuminated at one end by the Molinón, at the other by the church of San Pedro and in the middle by the moon, they were still celebrating. "Lo han pasado de puta madre", Preciado said: the fans have had a prostitute mother of a time. They had, too. This was a proper match in a proper stadium.
Intense and edgy and loud really, really loud. And with a happy ending. Fans roared at the final whistle as players embraced and Preciado leapt about punching the air. The red and white card from the pre-game mosaic what was left of it after 90 minutes spent sending paper airplanes heading towards the turf was tossed to the air in glee.
The banner at one end had declared: "Sporting Gijón, giant-killers since 1957."
Killers? Perhaps not, but the giant had eventually pulled up exhausted and offered his hand. At the offices of Asturias's oldest newspaper El Comercio they were finishing their cover: "And David stopped Goliath." AS were preparing a colossal ¡COLOSAL!. As for Preciado, he had described Pep Guardiola as "God"; now he was playing the iconoclast. Back in 1960-61, Alfredo Di Stéfano's Real Madrid won 15 games in a row and travelled to Asturias. The run came to an end with a draw against Real Oviedo. Fifty years later, Barcelona surpassed that record, won 16 games in a row and travelled to Asturias. Their run came to an end with a draw against Sporting Gijón.
Sporting, declared La Nueva España, imagining its panting hero diving for the cable as the final seconds ticked away and the planet held its breath, "unplugged the machine".
As draws go, this was one hell of a victory. Despite the fact that it could have been an actual victory. After all, Sporting led for an hour. Leo Messi lost out on the edge of the penalty area and committed a foul. As the stadium howled for a free-kick and a card, the referee instead waved play on. David Barral sprinted up the left, dashed inside and went past Gerard Piqué with a shimmy that doubled up as a warning that the centre-back shouldn't necessarily believe everything his missus tells him hips do lie. Easing past Gabi Milito, he smashed it into the bottom corner. "I could not have dreamed it better," he said. The noise made your ears bleed.
If Sporting were worth their lead, the second half was a different story. Eventually, David Villa's clever chip levelled it in the 79th minute. It was the fifth time he had scored against Sporting and the fifth time he had refused to celebrate. It was described as the "cruellest Vaseline" although frankly you can imagine worse but still Sporting's players said it "tasted like a win". Not just because it was against Barcelona but because of what it symbolised for Sporting. About both their past and their future.
Getting something out of a Barcelona side without Sergio Busquets and Carles Puyol, both of whom were absent the last two times they dropped points in the league this season, might have made the task look a little easier. Getting something out of Barcelona when they're suffering what the Spanish describe as the Fifa virus might have looked even easier yet they have won just six of 19 games immediately after an international break. But, still, getting something out of the side that had won 16 on the trot looked very nearly impossible. For Sporting it looked very really impossible.
Correction: for that Sporting it would have been very really impossible. Preciado was right: a month ago Sporting might have lost 6-1. And Preciado might have been out of a job. When Diego Castro scored an 89th-minute equaliser against Deportivo de La Coruña in week 16, he ran 60 yards to embrace Preciado. But if he thought the goal had saved his coach's job, he was wrong. The following week, Sporting were beaten 2-1 by Málaga. They had gone 10 weeks without a win and were bottom. The first division's longest-serving coach was about to get the sack. The president Manuel Vega-Arango called a meeting for the Monday morning. "I fully expected to wake up in the morning, look on the internet, turn to my girlfriend and say: 'Sweetheart, it's over'," Preciado admitted.
It wasn't. Not so much because Preciado, a potty-mouthed, funny, earthy coach, is as popular with most of the players as he is with journalists and other coaches in the game he reckons that the closeness of their relationship was a problem, making them even more desperate to win but because someone reminded Vega-Arango of something he had said at the Christmas lunch: "I'll leave this club before Preciado does." Prisoner of his own words, Vega-Arango hung fire. Preciado told his players he wouldn't die of hunger, even if he was sacked; he was in a job that "shouldn't even be called a job and on top of that the pay is the bollocks"; he told them that, having lost his career as a doctor because of a players' strike, having lost his wife and his son, he would recover.
Again, they rescued him. Against Racing Santander, Diego Castro scored a 91st-minute equaliser. And then it happened. Sporting started winning.
They beat Hércules 2-0, Atlético 1-0 and Mallorca 4-0. They had gone from bottom of the table to 12th, on the verge of the top half. Sure, they then lost 3-0 to Athletic but now they had only gone and got a draw with Barcelona. Twelve points in eight games more than half their total for the entire season. "If it hadn't been for Castro in the 91st minute against Racing and the 89th minute against Depor, I would have been sacked," Preciado said on Saturday night. "And then everything changed. But while we were on a horrendous run, it was a half a lie. You lose in the 95th minute to Villarreal and you think, joder, why is this happening? We haven't changed anything really; there has just been a psychological question. Plus the fans: today they carried us to this result. And there's been a bit of luck. A month ago we would have lost 6-1 and now we have drawn with the best team in the world."
"It is," he said, "pointing at his head, "all in here." Now, that might seem like a pretty inadequate excuse but it's also a compelling one. The search for a catch-all reason is a fruitless one. Sporting's fans have played their part, unity too, but sometimes the explanation appears almost pathetically simple: there is no explanation. Against Racing it was a last-minute equaliser; against Hércules, Sporting's first goal came with their first shot, after 23 seconds, and the second with their second; against Atlético comedy defending gifted them the win; against Mallorca they scored four, sure, and collected their first away win of the season, but even then they scored with every shot on target. And against Barcelona, though it was a hugely impressive, full of fight and organisation and effort, it had finished 6-1 in shots on target. To Barcelona.
Still they had become only the third team this season to even collect a point from Barcelona."This will give us a real morale boost," Preciado said, "the putada [the bitch, the bummer] is that it's only one point. They should give us more for this." They should but they don't. Three would have taken them to 12th. With Levante, Racing, Hércules and Deportivo all winning, with even Malaga getting a point, one means that climb to 12th has become a slip to 16th, a solitary point from the relegation zone.
"I always said that we weren't dead or decomposing back then," Preciado said. But they're not entirely safe now, either. And that's not the only tinge of regret. The winners from Saturday night weren't just Sporting and Preciado; the biggest winners were Real Madrid. For Sporting this was one point, for Madrid it was two. They took advantage to climb back to just five points behind Barcelona. Earlier in the season, José Mourinho and Manolo Preciado had a very public fight after the Madrid manager accused his Sporting counterpart of throwing his match at the Camp Nou by playing seven subs in a 1-0 defeat and Preciado called him a scumbag; when Madrid travelled to Sporting, it kicked off in the car park.
Preciado recently insisted that all is forgotten and that he would "go for beer with Mourinho tomorrow". Yeah, and this time Mourinho is paying. Week 23 Results and talking points:
Real Madrid closed the gap on Barcelona after a 1-0 win against Espanyol, despite playing virtually the whole game with 10 men. Iker Casillas was sent off for a challenge (with a very slight contact) on Jedward after just 81 seconds. "The whole of Spain thought we wouldn't win when that happened," said José Mourinho afterwards. If so, the whole of Spain is pretty silly. Madrid had entered into Mourinho territory. Marcelo scored a belter although someone could do with telling Carlos Kameni that you're supposed to dive into the way of the ball not out of it and Madrid should really have had more and killed the game sooner with Emmanuel Adebayor wasting a couple of wonderful chances. Casillas's sending off has provoked all sorts of debate, but no one seems to be asking the obvious question: why didn't José Callejón even try to stay on his feet?
Levante win three in a row. Bloody hell. It won't last, though: they go to Real Madrid this weekend coming. It's getting tight down at the bottom with everyone getting points. Depor won 1-0 against Villarreal through Lopo who was sporting a proper beard in a game that led to Villarreal losing third place. Hero Farinós scored for Hércules against recently-improved Zaragoza. But Málaga can't buy a win. Which is kind of ironic, really.
Atlético lost again but the fans decided that they weren't going to go for Quique Sánchez Flores. Instead they went for the men who were actually (more) guilty Miguel-Angel Gil Marín and Enrique Cerezo. Which seems to have kept the coach's job for now after all, they don't want to remove a potential shield or make another unpopular move but for how long?
Mental game of the weekend came in Santander where Racing beat Sevilla 3-2 sad, sad Sevilla with a last-minute winner. And a mental game gave way to a mental reaction from the new owner Ali Sayed, who was going absolutely bonkers up in the directors' box while José María del Nido sat stony-faced alongside him. It was pretty unedifying. But, let's face it, it was also pretty funny. And few are feeling sorry for the team where the legendary wind-up merchant Cristobal Soria works. Racing were under new management, with Marcelino back at the club after Miguel Angel Portugal was sacked. This morning Osasuna have confirmed that Portugal's former Real Madrid team-mate has been sacked too. Just two weeks after beating Madrid. Is there a warning there for Preciado?
It was the perfect weekend for Sporting fans. They got a great result against the world's best team. No, not Barcelona on Saturday night; local rivals Oviedo on Sunday night in the pouring rain at the Tartiere. A dire match finished Real Oviedo 01 Sporting B and even the sale of the club has fallen through. First Division Oviedo remain a Second Division B side. Real Oviedo, SOS! Results: Atlético 12 Valencia, Sporting 11 Barcelona, Racing 32 Sevilla, Hércules 21 Zaragoza, Málaga 22 Getafe, Levante 10 Almería, Real Sociedad 1-0 Osasuna, Deportivo 10 Villarreal, Espanyol 01 Madrid. Graveyard shift: Mallorca-Athletic. Latest La Liga standings Posted by Sid Lowe Monday 14 February 2011 14.33 GMT guardian.co.uk
Sporting show Arsenal how to stifle Barça Sporting Gijón ended Barcelona's 16-match winning run with a 1-1 draw ahead of Arsenal's Champions League game against the Spanish champions
Thanks for the kind words, but with ten minutes left, I was gutted! Took a truly exceptional goal, and from a Sportinguista no less, to even restore parity though, so there's plenty of comfort to take. I only wish we could play like that against the teams around us.
Gabi Milito has looked utter, utter crap this season. The Camacho sacking has been coming for weeks apparently, despite the result against Real Madrid; Mendilibar was the rumour I heard about 3 weeks ago. I'm not complaining - the Real Sociedad result saw my accumulator coming up. I had a double on with a Valencia victory. Happy days. The Caparrós-Sevilla rumour won't die: As were all over it during the week, and Del Nido only confirmed that Manzano would be in his job until July. I didn't know the sale of Real Oviedo had fallen through, that is sad.
I hope to God Sporting stay up - the league would be far worse without them. I won't begrudge them the draw, as they need the point more than Barça.
Malaga can't buy a win? Hmm... I see possibilities for a Mastercard ad there.
Kudos to Madrid in fairness - winning in the Cornella, after losing Casillas and playing practically the whole game with ten men takes quality.
Shame about Camacho - I have a feeling that sacking him will prove to be counter-productive for Osasuna.
massive respect to Sporting, they played like lions and were worth the draw. but Barca were good, too. the amount of moves they put together where they'd dance through 4-5 Sporting players was incredible. and only great blocking and a fantastic performance from Cuéllar kept the score to what it was. took a moment of genius from Villa to finally break through. can't believe that chance Pedro missed at the end! Kameni is such an idiot. he's either world-class or pub-level. he doesn't seem to have an inbetween. how the hell do you dive out of the way of a shot? still, Marcelo is criminally underrated. he's not that solid defensively but he contributes so much in attack you have to give him props.
El Efecto Ali en la tele.
The rough and the smooth.
Anybody who pumps millions of Euros into a club has every right to jump up and down when the team score a spectacular winner in the last minute to go 3-2 ahead. The fans also pay money to see this, albeit less than Mr Ali, and everyone in the ground was doing exactly the same. Nobody complained when Felipe and Letizia did a similar jig at the world cup final in front of the Dutch royal family. Saturday night was a final for Racing in a way with a lot of built up tension being released. Fourth from bottom and not having recently a lot to cheer about. The last home win was 28th of November 1647.
I read it was disrespectful to del Nido. Well sod Sevilla´s Mr Correctness. Of course El Preseeedente and El Alcalde looked rather grumpy. Do they even like football? Mind you they never pay. Revilla missed the winning goal as he was still downing his half time bucket of brandy as he had to eat his cow pie at dinner time with water to respect the new owners religious beliefs.
Mr Alis bodyguards were I D ed before the game by the Policia National and the Mercs were searched. "No guns were found." What is slightly more worrying is his 4 car motorcade screaming at high speed around town, wheeling spinning and shooting red lights. Although this type of driving seems quite popular in Spain.
I have lost count of the number of Racing players who have crashed their cars pissed at 5 in the morning and these incidents do not even get reported.
It seems that the only interesting weekends in La Liga are when Real or Barca drop points. It is also weird when a whole season of football feels like a procession. The bottom 18 teams in La Liga are an insult to football- this whole article is about celebrating Barca dropping a point..
I didn't manage to catch any other Lliga this weekend, was super-busy. but why sack Camacho? and just what the hell is wrong with Atleti? how does boardroom incompetence filter down so completely? speaking of incompetence: Gabi Milito. that is all. still, Sporting's turnaround is such a great story (although an article investigating why Barca are so consistently bad post-international break would be interesting too) and this article links nicely with the one you did earlier after the 0-1 loss to Madrid. also: sad to see Villarreal lose, but it would be kind of cool if the Riazor could become a real fortress again. oh and what price Raul to score on his return to Spain this midweek?
The title race is wide open again! Very, very, VERY poor performance from barca v sporting. Xavi, iniesta, messi, nowhere to be seen. Pique and milito making squillaci look like a good defender. Training cancelled yesterday becaause the players were 'too tired' acorind to Guardiola. 'El virus FIFA'. Excellent. The Casillas sending off is one of THE most disgraceful deciisons a ref has made against Real this season...and that takes some beating! Minimal contact. Casillas wasn't even the last man because Pepe was catching up behind not to mention that ridiculous dive from Callejon. What a despicable player (much like javi marquez and chica amongst others). Spent more time on the ground yesterday trying to get another real madrid player sent off than actually playing! Diving all over the place it was embarassing for Espanyol. No wonder we got rid of this poor mans jedward! You never saw him diving when he was put in clean through later in the game though. Baffling decision from the officiating team but that was in keeping with the tone of the game really. Adebayor doing his utmost to emulate Benzema and miss the most unmissable of tap ins. TWICE. Good to see Mourinho trying to discourage marcelo from using that imaginary ''show him the yellow/red card' hand gesture. Although I don't blame marcelo for doing it. Resilient world class defensive display from Real coinciding with the return of carvalho and pepe...the best defensive partnership in europe! Marcelo man of the match for me just ahead of Ronaldo (who could quite easily have had 4 assists and a brace). The brazilian full back was a beast last night. Copa Del Rey final...La liga still possible..champions league coming up soon...life looking good! Arriba Merengues! Abajo Barca!
Sid, have u written about Valencia lately? Despite losing the crown jewels of Villa and Silva, they've done incredibly well and seem to be on course to finishing in the CL spots when I actually thought they'd implode !! How is their financial position now? Any chance Arsenal can make a cheeky bid for Banega (who I think would be awesome with Cesc) or even Mata in the summer and be successful?
The bottom 18 teams in La Liga are an insult to football
What a genuinely retarded thing to say! As I said before, congratulations to Sporting, who were superb. Barca were shocking in the first half, but immense in the second and they defended with passion.
Fair play to Madrid too, they were the better team, anway to Espanyol with ten men, deserves respect! Kameni should of saved it, but Real had the lions share of chances so I won't begrudge them anything.
Is Pellegrini's job safe? He's clearly one of the best managers in the league, but could it be that he and Malaga just dont fit? Strange situation!
What about Monzano at Seville? I always thought of it as a Roy Hogson-esque appointment, could I be right? I mean, I know there are institutional problems at Seville, but this is ridiculous!!
i thought adebayor played really well. ok he should have scored 2 but atleast he hit the target. but he brought a dynamism which has been missing at the apex of the real madrid attack and boy did he work hard. ronaldo was fantastic too. marcelo has been great whenever i have seen him. he is fantastic in attack. not sure what to make of his defensive skills. he seem pretty competent at times but at other times his positioning is suspect. needs to learn from lord percy. despite some poor finishing the game was great in terms of seeing players running like mad. you had marcelo, ronaldo, adebayor, diarra all running full pelt. i enjoyed that
but no one seems to be asking the obvious question: why didn't José Callejón even try to stay on his feet?
because he's a big girls blouse in a big girls blouse falling over competition, previous winners of which include the bold diego capel and sergio busquets
From now onwards this is a problem Barca is going to be faced with. All games will be played like cup finals. Unless Barca score first and quickly settle into their familiar, scintillating rhythm, teams are going defend deep, crowding the central defense areas and leaving them barren space in the wings. With twelve or so teams still not safe from the chop in La liga, the only open games they are likely to get will be against the likes of Villarreal, Valencia and maybe, just maybe, Real Madrid. Champions League knock-out phase, Copa dela rey finals: It's going to feel like playing against Inter-Milan (Arsenal, take cue) twice a week.
I can't wait for the pundits to start calling for the mysterious, so-called plan B.
I thought last week end was more entertaining than the previous one. Good bit of drama on the pitch. Racing-Sevilla match was the pick of the week. Also a good win for Depo, for the few matches I've watched them they seem to be more disorganized than Levante and Zaragoza... the relegation contenders are all set for the photo finish.
Tiago Great post mate. Did we see a first park the bus practice run in the second half? I know RM could have / should have killed it in the second but it was mostly counter attacks.
At Manzanares this weekend I was more disappointed with Valencia than w my Atleti; I expected more from the visitors, to be honest - We were unlucky as well, a couple of palos, the late goal, and the absurd red card - Beginning of the game was good, but they silenced Reyes; the attacking pair is not working (maybe Forlan has finally reached his end?) and Q wouldn't throw in Diego Costa, so come on, nobody expects Raul Garcia to ever produce anything... - Anyway, Valencia I'm feeling it since the start of the season: they could be breathing RM in the back for 2nd spot, and in CL after knocking out Schalke if the draw is lucky perhaps even reach semis! - For Atletico it's probably all good if there's just the domestic competitions to focus on next year My main hope right now is that we can at least pass Sevilla, a team you cannot but dislike this season - Mr Lowe's linked piece from SI on them is really spot on too - Glad for the Racing win over them - And Casacantabria, your posts are DOPE! * Marcelo spectacular (only him though) - But let's be clear: the Espanyol players must have put money against themselves on this one: they didn't even attempt an attack all game: they didn't produce a single clear opportunity to score (a couple of lame passes goalwards in the second half hardly counts for shots), this while playing with one man more for 90 minutes - DiStefano himself, at 84, could have defended against that embarrasing joke of a display - Pochettino is such a cool guy, normally, but that was disappointing
Celti You are being melodramatic again. Did I say anything about the content of your post? No, you just assumed it again. All I said was that you guys posted early indicating that you are on here early. Nothing more nothing less.
went past Gerard Piqué with a shimmy that doubled up as a warning that the centre-back shouldn't necessarily believe everything his missus tells him hips do lie
If Madrid had lost Mourinho would have been whinging all week about St Iker's sending off. As it was he hardly mentioned it. Funny hey? It was almost worth it to see the sods win to save ourselves the moan. As for our boys, you could so how nervous Pique was from the get go. Either Milito gets more match practice our we flog him. Messi looked knackered. And what happened to Pedro? I think its always better to start with the full team and then make substituations when we're 3-0 up. Finally, if Ronaldo hadn't been such a greedy sod and had sytayed with us, he wouldn't be retiring today!
But let's be clear: the Espanyol players must have put money against themselves on this one: they didn't even attempt an attack all game: they didn't produce a single clear opportunity to score (a couple of lame passes goalwards in the second half hardly counts for shots), this while playing with one man more for 90 minutes
Guru
Did we see a first park the bus practice run in the second half? I know RM could have / should have killed it in the second but it was mostly counter attacks.
I see Guardiola and the Barca lads took their medicine with typical grace 'I am happy we played our way, and they played with 10 men behind the ball' was the quote I heard - no wonder it is hard to truely take to this brilliant side, given the unrelenting moaning that comes from the camp on every occasion after anyone has the temerity not to bend over for them. Xavi's much lauded interview only serving to back up that perception. Not an EPL supporter either just a fan who prefers to see a team make a match of games with Barca by whatever means rather than watch the borefests that most of their games have become. And hats off to Trezequet, great to see such appetite and true class shining through.
Gihon was brilliant in the first half. But still I would say Barca was excellent in the second half. Name a single team who can play those kinds of one twos in the final third when 10 men are defending. It wasnt just their day yesterday. But its good for Barca. They wont get any more complascent. A sight touch by Iker? I didnt think so and that was a clear obstruction on a one on one goal scoring opportunity. Yellow card for sure, red depending on the referee. But didnt the referee return the favours later to RM. I saw many.
Casa is absolutely correct... Actually, I think football should take a leaf from NFL on this one, and have club bosses in private rooms where they can celebrate and / or curse as much as they like. With club honchos, as with everything else, I'll take someone who cares (even if it's mostly their money they care about) over someone who doesn't give a fig every day of the week.... Keep bosses separated, and the problem is solved, really. As for Barça losing.... if they lose again tomorrow, or the next league game, then we may be onto something, but ringing the bells for this draw sounds like clutching at straws to me. What did people expect, they winning every game until the end of times? 1st half was pretty dire, 2nd was better, and at the end of the day, Sporting was lucky to escape with a very hard fought draw. Until more evidence is provided, this is a non story, I think... Good to see Depor bouncing back... c'mon guys, just 18 points more!
@Gurufootball You may just be correct regarding the barca players taking internationals too seriously. Messi asked to to play the full 90mins v portugal whilst ronaldo was taken off after an hour. Also, the whole spain squad were desperately trying to prove to everyone that they ain't the worst world cup winners ever by managing a 1-0 home win over colombia. However i think it has to do with the enormous effort they have put in over the past 16 games which is now beginning to catch up with them.
I went to see Cornellà this weekend. That is to say, my girlfriend wanted to go to the shopping centre beside it. It is bizarre, I don't know if anyone knows the history of its construction but it must be the only football ground where you could leave a match and be in Primark within 15 seconds. I am not joking - there is a pavement separating the entrance to the Primark from the entrance to one of the stands. Anyone know if it was built as one massive project? Or was it a stadium onto which they tacked a shopping centre? The stadium itself looks great, not at all one of your identikit modern stadia, and I am keen to see a game there. It has a hugely disappointing "Memorial Space", which is a large room with sofas and the opportunity to pay to put your name on the wall. The south end looks out over the desolate El Prat and the North faces the suburban Cornellà.
Nice piece as usual, Sid. As soon as I saw Milito was starting I just knew it would be the day to drop points. I still haven't understood why Pep convinced him to stay rather than ship him off to Málaga where he would fit right in with countryman DiMichelis - both equally horrible at defending fast breaks. Surely it would be better to start Fontás than Milito in his current form?!? And better still would of course have been Abidal - he's looked so fresh recently and actually rested both games against Betis in January, so I don't understand why he had to be rested after the international game. Makes no sense. He would've saved the goal rather than be rounded like a cone the way Milito was after Piqué missed. But OK, if it had to happen, I'm glad it did against Sporting. They played their hearts out, they showed the belief the whole game and didn't collapse after the equalizer - and of course they've got Preciado. Gotta love the man. And lastly - Callejón, what a terrible cheat he is. After Mou's comments on fouls on Ronaldo v. Messi, Marca looked at the stats and concluded Callejón was actually the most persecuted player in the league - 'cos apparently the stats say he's received the most fouls. As soon as I saw it I laughed out loud (and this was before last night's antics): the only thing that stat proves is he throws himself to the ground whenever someone comes within half a yard of him and the refs keep rewarding him for it. Please don't compare him to Busquets, who at least limits his exaggerations to real contact in the face. Callejón is in a whole different league, the one once inhabited by a certain Hristo Stoichkov. He made me almost cheer for Madrid to win, and that takes a lot.
Sixth victory on a row for Real Madrid Castilla under Toril, who has completely transformed this team since taking over. Morata scored a hat-trick, with Joselu, Juan Carlos, Denis and Sarabia completing the 7-1 win over Deportivo B. Carvajal looks promising as right back, Sarabia is lively and Morata reminds me of the most intelligent Morientes version at Real Madrid with Raul as partner. It's incredible what a new coach can do in a matter of weeks. This one certainly knew his players well in the Juvenil. The talent was there but at times things just don't work out.
As soon as I saw Milito was starting I just knew it would be the day to drop points. I still haven't understood why Pep convinced him to stay rather than ship him off to Málaga
It's a shame - he was shaping up last season, especially liked the way he played in the Bernabeu Clasico - but he gets injured too much, and then has to get his form back.
A sight touch by Iker? I didnt think so and that was a clear obstruction on a one on one goal scoring opportunity. Yellow card for sure, red depending on the referee. But didnt the referee return the favours later to RM. I saw many.
Yes slight. It was Callejon staring at the ref while rolling on the turf that gives it away. Yellow for sure though. And if you mean the offside call, it wasnt, but far from returning the favor since Espanyol couldnt decide whether it was beach soccer or beach volleyball. Khedira should have had a penalty. Marcelo was onside. Should I go on?
I see Guardiola and the Barca lads took their medicine with typical grace 'I am happy we played our way, and they played with 10 men behind the ball' was the quote I heard - no wonder it is hard to truely take to this brilliant side, given the unrelenting moaning that comes from the camp on every occasion after anyone has the temerity not to bend over for them.
i'm sorry, but did you actually watch the game? because Sporting patently did play with 10 men behind the ball; even their strikers dropping back well into their own half. that's why they were successful. credit to them, they did everything a team has to do to beat Barça and were unlucky (via a moment of brilliance on the part of Villa) not to scrape out all 3 points. but there are some people posting here all too willing to ascribe bad intentions to both Barcelona and it's supporters on these blogs, where none exist. a team plays with 10 behind the ball and Guardiola or whoever describes it as such; all of a sudden that's bad form? Barça fans come onto this blog and have done nothing thus far but give Sporting credit for an exciting game well-played, all too aware of their team's problems after international breaks, and they're accused of being intemperate? we know Barcelona are a great team, but sometimes a team can be great and not have a secret evil lurking in it (or it's supporters). the same phenomenon of trying to combat imaginary or banal demons was alive and well in Hayward's column yesterday. grow up.
Finally, if Ronaldo hadn't been such a greedy sod and had sytayed with us, he wouldn't be retiring today!
I thought it was Caledron and Capello who chased him away. With the entire team falling apart goofy and no strong manager on line has a splendid time with binge and purge behavior only went worse,
'Xavi's much lauded interview only serving to back up that perception'. Im sorry that must have passed me by, i thought Xavi came across as humble and intelligent in the interview providing a good insight into the Barcelona style of play.
If Madrid had lost Mourinho would have been whinging all week about St Iker's sending off. As it was he hardly mentioned it. Funny hey?
Funny? How is it funny? It's what it has to be expected. He plays his game. Same as Pep I-never-talk-about-referees-except-when-they-harm-my-team Guardiola. All coaches have to play their cards depending on the way the game is going on., competing on the pitch to win and and playing mind games off it to influence and generate a better enviroment for their sides.
have lost count of the number of Racing players who have crashed their cars pissed at 5 in the morning and these incidents do not even get reported
.
So how come you hear about them?
Pique was getting some stick fron the Sporting fans, ''Shakira es una puta''
Still not as bad as Beckham had to contend with back in the day
All coaches have to play their cards depending on the way the game is going on., competing on the pitch to win and and playing mind games off it to influence and generate a better enviroment for their sides.
Absolutely correct. Of course Mourinho would prefer Casillas to stay in. But I guarantee you he took full advantage of the situation by uniting the team against all odds, as he did at Inter.
Nice description of Pep. Remember when he even had to apologize for insinuating Catalonia wasnt part of Spain?
As soon as I saw the starting lineup I knew Guardiola was throwing away points. Sad to say of a player that has come through the injuries he has, but playing Milito is giving away a goal or two start. Maybe he thought he would give some of his players a rest ahead of Arsenal, but in the end they all ended up knackered after chasing almost the entire game. The yellow cards will come back to bite too. Silly, silly management.
Barcelona's Andrés Iniesta is tackled during the 1-1 draw with Sporting Gíjon. Photograph: Alvaro Barrientos/AP Manolo Preciado played his moustache like it was a harmonica, air racing out of his lungs, through the foliage and into the room. "Uuf," he said. "Uuf, joder." ****. Crafty fag extinguished, voice coarse and rough, language even more coarse and even more rough, so deep the floor vibrated, he shifted behind a giant bottle of Fuensanta, official water of Sporting Gijón, and played it again. "Uuf," he said, "a month ago we'd have lost 6-1." But this was not a month ago and Sporting did not lose 6-1. Instead, on Saturday night they drew 1-1 with FC Barcelona. And if draws are the new defeats for the big two, then draws against the big two are the new victories for everyone else. "This," Preciado said, "is a fantastic prize."
Outside, the fans could not agree more. Along the front, cold Atlantic smashing up against the sea walls, illuminated at one end by the Molinón, at the other by the church of San Pedro and in the middle by the moon, they were still celebrating. "Lo han pasado de puta madre", Preciado said: the fans have had a prostitute mother of a time. They had, too. This was a proper match in a proper stadium.
Intense and edgy and loud really, really loud. And with a happy ending. Fans roared at the final whistle as players embraced and Preciado leapt about punching the air. The red and white card from the pre-game mosaic what was left of it after 90 minutes spent sending paper airplanes heading towards the turf was tossed to the air in glee.
The banner at one end had declared: "Sporting Gijón, giant-killers since 1957."
Killers? Perhaps not, but the giant had eventually pulled up exhausted and offered his hand. At the offices of Asturias's oldest newspaper El Comercio they were finishing their cover: "And David stopped Goliath." AS were preparing a colossal ¡COLOSAL!. As for Preciado, he had described Pep Guardiola as "God"; now he was playing the iconoclast. Back in 1960-61, Alfredo Di Stéfano's Real Madrid won 15 games in a row and travelled to Asturias. The run came to an end with a draw against Real Oviedo. Fifty years later, Barcelona surpassed that record, won 16 games in a row and travelled to Asturias. Their run came to an end with a draw against Sporting Gijón.
Sporting, declared La Nueva España, imagining its panting hero diving for the cable as the final seconds ticked away and the planet held its breath, "unplugged the machine".
As draws go, this was one hell of a victory. Despite the fact that it could have been an actual victory. After all, Sporting led for an hour. Leo Messi lost out on the edge of the penalty area and committed a foul. As the stadium howled for a free-kick and a card, the referee instead waved play on. David Barral sprinted up the left, dashed inside and went past Gerard Piqué with a shimmy that doubled up as a warning that the centre-back shouldn't necessarily believe everything his missus tells him hips do lie. Easing past Gabi Milito, he smashed it into the bottom corner. "I could not have dreamed it better," he said. The noise made your ears bleed.
If Sporting were worth their lead, the second half was a different story. Eventually, David Villa's clever chip levelled it in the 79th minute. It was the fifth time he had scored against Sporting and the fifth time he had refused to celebrate. It was described as the "cruellest Vaseline" although frankly you can imagine worse but still Sporting's players said it "tasted like a win". Not just because it was against Barcelona but because of what it symbolised for Sporting. About both their past and their future.
Getting something out of a Barcelona side without Sergio Busquets and Carles Puyol, both of whom were absent the last two times they dropped points in the league this season, might have made the task look a little easier. Getting something out of Barcelona when they're suffering what the Spanish describe as the Fifa virus might have looked even easier yet they have won just six of 19 games immediately after an international break. But, still, getting something out of the side that had won 16 on the trot looked very nearly impossible. For Sporting it looked very really impossible.
Correction: for that Sporting it would have been very really impossible. Preciado was right: a month ago Sporting might have lost 6-1. And Preciado might have been out of a job. When Diego Castro scored an 89th-minute equaliser against Deportivo de La Coruña in week 16, he ran 60 yards to embrace Preciado. But if he thought the goal had saved his coach's job, he was wrong. The following week, Sporting were beaten 2-1 by Málaga. They had gone 10 weeks without a win and were bottom. The first division's longest-serving coach was about to get the sack. The president Manuel Vega-Arango called a meeting for the Monday morning. "I fully expected to wake up in the morning, look on the internet, turn to my girlfriend and say: 'Sweetheart, it's over'," Preciado admitted.
It wasn't. Not so much because Preciado, a potty-mouthed, funny, earthy coach, is as popular with most of the players as he is with journalists and other coaches in the game he reckons that the closeness of their relationship was a problem, making them even more desperate to win but because someone reminded Vega-Arango of something he had said at the Christmas lunch: "I'll leave this club before Preciado does." Prisoner of his own words, Vega-Arango hung fire. Preciado told his players he wouldn't die of hunger, even if he was sacked; he was in a job that "shouldn't even be called a job and on top of that the pay is the bollocks"; he told them that, having lost his career as a doctor because of a players' strike, having lost his wife and his son, he would recover.
Again, they rescued him. Against Racing Santander, Diego Castro scored a 91st-minute equaliser. And then it happened. Sporting started winning.
They beat Hércules 2-0, Atlético 1-0 and Mallorca 4-0. They had gone from bottom of the table to 12th, on the verge of the top half. Sure, they then lost 3-0 to Athletic but now they had only gone and got a draw with Barcelona. Twelve points in eight games more than half their total for the entire season. "If it hadn't been for Castro in the 91st minute against Racing and the 89th minute against Depor, I would have been sacked," Preciado said on Saturday night. "And then everything changed. But while we were on a horrendous run, it was a half a lie. You lose in the 95th minute to Villarreal and you think, joder, why is this happening? We haven't changed anything really; there has just been a psychological question. Plus the fans: today they carried us to this result. And there's been a bit of luck. A month ago we would have lost 6-1 and now we have drawn with the best team in the world."
"It is," he said, "pointing at his head, "all in here." Now, that might seem like a pretty inadequate excuse but it's also a compelling one. The search for a catch-all reason is a fruitless one. Sporting's fans have played their part, unity too, but sometimes the explanation appears almost pathetically simple: there is no explanation. Against Racing it was a last-minute equaliser; against Hércules, Sporting's first goal came with their first shot, after 23 seconds, and the second with their second; against Atlético comedy defending gifted them the win; against Mallorca they scored four, sure, and collected their first away win of the season, but even then they scored with every shot on target. And against Barcelona, though it was a hugely impressive, full of fight and organisation and effort, it had finished 6-1 in shots on target. To Barcelona.
Still they had become only the third team this season to even collect a point from Barcelona."This will give us a real morale boost," Preciado said, "the putada [the bitch, the bummer] is that it's only one point. They should give us more for this." They should but they don't. Three would have taken them to 12th. With Levante, Racing, Hércules and Deportivo all winning, with even Malaga getting a point, one means that climb to 12th has become a slip to 16th, a solitary point from the relegation zone.
"I always said that we weren't dead or decomposing back then," Preciado said. But they're not entirely safe now, either. And that's not the only tinge of regret. The winners from Saturday night weren't just Sporting and Preciado; the biggest winners were Real Madrid. For Sporting this was one point, for Madrid it was two. They took advantage to climb back to just five points behind Barcelona. Earlier in the season, José Mourinho and Manolo Preciado had a very public fight after the Madrid manager accused his Sporting counterpart of throwing his match at the Camp Nou by playing seven subs in a 1-0 defeat and Preciado called him a scumbag; when Madrid travelled to Sporting, it kicked off in the car park.
Preciado recently insisted that all is forgotten and that he would "go for beer with Mourinho tomorrow". Yeah, and this time Mourinho is paying. Week 23 Results and talking points:
Real Madrid closed the gap on Barcelona after a 1-0 win against Espanyol, despite playing virtually the whole game with 10 men. Iker Casillas was sent off for a challenge (with a very slight contact) on Jedward after just 81 seconds. "The whole of Spain thought we wouldn't win when that happened," said José Mourinho afterwards. If so, the whole of Spain is pretty silly. Madrid had entered into Mourinho territory. Marcelo scored a belter although someone could do with telling Carlos Kameni that you're supposed to dive into the way of the ball not out of it and Madrid should really have had more and killed the game sooner with Emmanuel Adebayor wasting a couple of wonderful chances. Casillas's sending off has provoked all sorts of debate, but no one seems to be asking the obvious question: why didn't José Callejón even try to stay on his feet?
Levante win three in a row. Bloody hell. It won't last, though: they go to Real Madrid this weekend coming. It's getting tight down at the bottom with everyone getting points. Depor won 1-0 against Villarreal through Lopo who was sporting a proper beard in a game that led to Villarreal losing third place. Hero Farinós scored for Hércules against recently-improved Zaragoza. But Málaga can't buy a win. Which is kind of ironic, really.
Atlético lost again but the fans decided that they weren't going to go for Quique Sánchez Flores. Instead they went for the men who were actually (more) guilty Miguel-Angel Gil Marín and Enrique Cerezo. Which seems to have kept the coach's job for now after all, they don't want to remove a potential shield or make another unpopular move but for how long?
Mental game of the weekend came in Santander where Racing beat Sevilla 3-2 sad, sad Sevilla with a last-minute winner. And a mental game gave way to a mental reaction from the new owner Ali Sayed, who was going absolutely bonkers up in the directors' box while José María del Nido sat stony-faced alongside him. It was pretty unedifying. But, let's face it, it was also pretty funny. And few are feeling sorry for the team where the legendary wind-up merchant Cristobal Soria works. Racing were under new management, with Marcelino back at the club after Miguel Angel Portugal was sacked. This morning Osasuna have confirmed that Portugal's former Real Madrid team-mate has been sacked too. Just two weeks after beating Madrid. Is there a warning there for Preciado?
It was the perfect weekend for Sporting fans. They got a great result against the world's best team. No, not Barcelona on Saturday night; local rivals Oviedo on Sunday night in the pouring rain at the Tartiere. A dire match finished Real Oviedo 01 Sporting B and even the sale of the club has fallen through. First Division Oviedo remain a Second Division B side. Real Oviedo, SOS! Results: Atlético 12 Valencia, Sporting 11 Barcelona, Racing 32 Sevilla, Hércules 21 Zaragoza, Málaga 22 Getafe, Levante 10 Almería, Real Sociedad 1-0 Osasuna, Deportivo 10 Villarreal, Espanyol 01 Madrid. Graveyard shift: Mallorca-Athletic. Latest La Liga standings Posted by Sid Lowe Monday 14 February 2011 14.33 GMT guardian.co.uk
Sporting show Arsenal how to stifle Barça Sporting Gijón ended Barcelona's 16-match winning run with a 1-1 draw ahead of Arsenal's Champions League game against the Spanish champions
Thanks for the kind words, but with ten minutes left, I was gutted! Took a truly exceptional goal, and from a Sportinguista no less, to even restore parity though, so there's plenty of comfort to take. I only wish we could play like that against the teams around us.
Gabi Milito has looked utter, utter crap this season. The Camacho sacking has been coming for weeks apparently, despite the result against Real Madrid; Mendilibar was the rumour I heard about 3 weeks ago. I'm not complaining - the Real Sociedad result saw my accumulator coming up. I had a double on with a Valencia victory. Happy days. The Caparrós-Sevilla rumour won't die: As were all over it during the week, and Del Nido only confirmed that Manzano would be in his job until July. I didn't know the sale of Real Oviedo had fallen through, that is sad.
I hope to God Sporting stay up - the league would be far worse without them. I won't begrudge them the draw, as they need the point more than Barça.
Malaga can't buy a win? Hmm... I see possibilities for a Mastercard ad there.
Kudos to Madrid in fairness - winning in the Cornella, after losing Casillas and playing practically the whole game with ten men takes quality.
Shame about Camacho - I have a feeling that sacking him will prove to be counter-productive for Osasuna.
massive respect to Sporting, they played like lions and were worth the draw. but Barca were good, too. the amount of moves they put together where they'd dance through 4-5 Sporting players was incredible. and only great blocking and a fantastic performance from Cuéllar kept the score to what it was. took a moment of genius from Villa to finally break through. can't believe that chance Pedro missed at the end! Kameni is such an idiot. he's either world-class or pub-level. he doesn't seem to have an inbetween. how the hell do you dive out of the way of a shot? still, Marcelo is criminally underrated. he's not that solid defensively but he contributes so much in attack you have to give him props.
El Efecto Ali en la tele.
The rough and the smooth.
Anybody who pumps millions of Euros into a club has every right to jump up and down when the team score a spectacular winner in the last minute to go 3-2 ahead. The fans also pay money to see this, albeit less than Mr Ali, and everyone in the ground was doing exactly the same. Nobody complained when Felipe and Letizia did a similar jig at the world cup final in front of the Dutch royal family. Saturday night was a final for Racing in a way with a lot of built up tension being released. Fourth from bottom and not having recently a lot to cheer about. The last home win was 28th of November 1647.
I read it was disrespectful to del Nido. Well sod Sevilla´s Mr Correctness. Of course El Preseeedente and El Alcalde looked rather grumpy. Do they even like football? Mind you they never pay. Revilla missed the winning goal as he was still downing his half time bucket of brandy as he had to eat his cow pie at dinner time with water to respect the new owners religious beliefs.
Mr Alis bodyguards were I D ed before the game by the Policia National and the Mercs were searched. "No guns were found." What is slightly more worrying is his 4 car motorcade screaming at high speed around town, wheeling spinning and shooting red lights. Although this type of driving seems quite popular in Spain.
I have lost count of the number of Racing players who have crashed their cars pissed at 5 in the morning and these incidents do not even get reported.
It seems that the only interesting weekends in La Liga are when Real or Barca drop points. It is also weird when a whole season of football feels like a procession. The bottom 18 teams in La Liga are an insult to football- this whole article is about celebrating Barca dropping a point..
I didn't manage to catch any other Lliga this weekend, was super-busy. but why sack Camacho? and just what the hell is wrong with Atleti? how does boardroom incompetence filter down so completely? speaking of incompetence: Gabi Milito. that is all. still, Sporting's turnaround is such a great story (although an article investigating why Barca are so consistently bad post-international break would be interesting too) and this article links nicely with the one you did earlier after the 0-1 loss to Madrid. also: sad to see Villarreal lose, but it would be kind of cool if the Riazor could become a real fortress again. oh and what price Raul to score on his return to Spain this midweek?
The title race is wide open again! Very, very, VERY poor performance from barca v sporting. Xavi, iniesta, messi, nowhere to be seen. Pique and milito making squillaci look like a good defender. Training cancelled yesterday becaause the players were 'too tired' acorind to Guardiola. 'El virus FIFA'. Excellent. The Casillas sending off is one of THE most disgraceful deciisons a ref has made against Real this season...and that takes some beating! Minimal contact. Casillas wasn't even the last man because Pepe was catching up behind not to mention that ridiculous dive from Callejon. What a despicable player (much like javi marquez and chica amongst others). Spent more time on the ground yesterday trying to get another real madrid player sent off than actually playing! Diving all over the place it was embarassing for Espanyol. No wonder we got rid of this poor mans jedward! You never saw him diving when he was put in clean through later in the game though. Baffling decision from the officiating team but that was in keeping with the tone of the game really. Adebayor doing his utmost to emulate Benzema and miss the most unmissable of tap ins. TWICE. Good to see Mourinho trying to discourage marcelo from using that imaginary ''show him the yellow/red card' hand gesture. Although I don't blame marcelo for doing it. Resilient world class defensive display from Real coinciding with the return of carvalho and pepe...the best defensive partnership in europe! Marcelo man of the match for me just ahead of Ronaldo (who could quite easily have had 4 assists and a brace). The brazilian full back was a beast last night. Copa Del Rey final...La liga still possible..champions league coming up soon...life looking good! Arriba Merengues! Abajo Barca!
Sid, have u written about Valencia lately? Despite losing the crown jewels of Villa and Silva, they've done incredibly well and seem to be on course to finishing in the CL spots when I actually thought they'd implode !! How is their financial position now? Any chance Arsenal can make a cheeky bid for Banega (who I think would be awesome with Cesc) or even Mata in the summer and be successful?
The bottom 18 teams in La Liga are an insult to football
What a genuinely retarded thing to say! As I said before, congratulations to Sporting, who were superb. Barca were shocking in the first half, but immense in the second and they defended with passion.
Fair play to Madrid too, they were the better team, anway to Espanyol with ten men, deserves respect! Kameni should of saved it, but Real had the lions share of chances so I won't begrudge them anything.
Is Pellegrini's job safe? He's clearly one of the best managers in the league, but could it be that he and Malaga just dont fit? Strange situation!
What about Monzano at Seville? I always thought of it as a Roy Hogson-esque appointment, could I be right? I mean, I know there are institutional problems at Seville, but this is ridiculous!!
i thought adebayor played really well. ok he should have scored 2 but atleast he hit the target. but he brought a dynamism which has been missing at the apex of the real madrid attack and boy did he work hard. ronaldo was fantastic too. marcelo has been great whenever i have seen him. he is fantastic in attack. not sure what to make of his defensive skills. he seem pretty competent at times but at other times his positioning is suspect. needs to learn from lord percy. despite some poor finishing the game was great in terms of seeing players running like mad. you had marcelo, ronaldo, adebayor, diarra all running full pelt. i enjoyed that
but no one seems to be asking the obvious question: why didn't José Callejón even try to stay on his feet?
because he's a big girls blouse in a big girls blouse falling over competition, previous winners of which include the bold diego capel and sergio busquets
From now onwards this is a problem Barca is going to be faced with. All games will be played like cup finals. Unless Barca score first and quickly settle into their familiar, scintillating rhythm, teams are going defend deep, crowding the central defense areas and leaving them barren space in the wings. With twelve or so teams still not safe from the chop in La liga, the only open games they are likely to get will be against the likes of Villarreal, Valencia and maybe, just maybe, Real Madrid. Champions League knock-out phase, Copa dela rey finals: It's going to feel like playing against Inter-Milan (Arsenal, take cue) twice a week.
I can't wait for the pundits to start calling for the mysterious, so-called plan B.
I thought last week end was more entertaining than the previous one. Good bit of drama on the pitch. Racing-Sevilla match was the pick of the week. Also a good win for Depo, for the few matches I've watched them they seem to be more disorganized than Levante and Zaragoza... the relegation contenders are all set for the photo finish.
Tiago Great post mate. Did we see a first park the bus practice run in the second half? I know RM could have / should have killed it in the second but it was mostly counter attacks.
At Manzanares this weekend I was more disappointed with Valencia than w my Atleti; I expected more from the visitors, to be honest - We were unlucky as well, a couple of palos, the late goal, and the absurd red card - Beginning of the game was good, but they silenced Reyes; the attacking pair is not working (maybe Forlan has finally reached his end?) and Q wouldn't throw in Diego Costa, so come on, nobody expects Raul Garcia to ever produce anything... - Anyway, Valencia I'm feeling it since the start of the season: they could be breathing RM in the back for 2nd spot, and in CL after knocking out Schalke if the draw is lucky perhaps even reach semis! - For Atletico it's probably all good if there's just the domestic competitions to focus on next year My main hope right now is that we can at least pass Sevilla, a team you cannot but dislike this season - Mr Lowe's linked piece from SI on them is really spot on too - Glad for the Racing win over them - And Casacantabria, your posts are DOPE! * Marcelo spectacular (only him though) - But let's be clear: the Espanyol players must have put money against themselves on this one: they didn't even attempt an attack all game: they didn't produce a single clear opportunity to score (a couple of lame passes goalwards in the second half hardly counts for shots), this while playing with one man more for 90 minutes - DiStefano himself, at 84, could have defended against that embarrasing joke of a display - Pochettino is such a cool guy, normally, but that was disappointing
Celti You are being melodramatic again. Did I say anything about the content of your post? No, you just assumed it again. All I said was that you guys posted early indicating that you are on here early. Nothing more nothing less.
went past Gerard Piqué with a shimmy that doubled up as a warning that the centre-back shouldn't necessarily believe everything his missus tells him hips do lie
If Madrid had lost Mourinho would have been whinging all week about St Iker's sending off. As it was he hardly mentioned it. Funny hey? It was almost worth it to see the sods win to save ourselves the moan. As for our boys, you could so how nervous Pique was from the get go. Either Milito gets more match practice our we flog him. Messi looked knackered. And what happened to Pedro? I think its always better to start with the full team and then make substituations when we're 3-0 up. Finally, if Ronaldo hadn't been such a greedy sod and had sytayed with us, he wouldn't be retiring today!
But let's be clear: the Espanyol players must have put money against themselves on this one: they didn't even attempt an attack all game: they didn't produce a single clear opportunity to score (a couple of lame passes goalwards in the second half hardly counts for shots), this while playing with one man more for 90 minutes
Guru
Did we see a first park the bus practice run in the second half? I know RM could have / should have killed it in the second but it was mostly counter attacks.
I see Guardiola and the Barca lads took their medicine with typical grace 'I am happy we played our way, and they played with 10 men behind the ball' was the quote I heard - no wonder it is hard to truely take to this brilliant side, given the unrelenting moaning that comes from the camp on every occasion after anyone has the temerity not to bend over for them. Xavi's much lauded interview only serving to back up that perception. Not an EPL supporter either just a fan who prefers to see a team make a match of games with Barca by whatever means rather than watch the borefests that most of their games have become. And hats off to Trezequet, great to see such appetite and true class shining through.
Gihon was brilliant in the first half. But still I would say Barca was excellent in the second half. Name a single team who can play those kinds of one twos in the final third when 10 men are defending. It wasnt just their day yesterday. But its good for Barca. They wont get any more complascent. A sight touch by Iker? I didnt think so and that was a clear obstruction on a one on one goal scoring opportunity. Yellow card for sure, red depending on the referee. But didnt the referee return the favours later to RM. I saw many.
Casa is absolutely correct... Actually, I think football should take a leaf from NFL on this one, and have club bosses in private rooms where they can celebrate and / or curse as much as they like. With club honchos, as with everything else, I'll take someone who cares (even if it's mostly their money they care about) over someone who doesn't give a fig every day of the week.... Keep bosses separated, and the problem is solved, really. As for Barça losing.... if they lose again tomorrow, or the next league game, then we may be onto something, but ringing the bells for this draw sounds like clutching at straws to me. What did people expect, they winning every game until the end of times? 1st half was pretty dire, 2nd was better, and at the end of the day, Sporting was lucky to escape with a very hard fought draw. Until more evidence is provided, this is a non story, I think... Good to see Depor bouncing back... c'mon guys, just 18 points more!
@Gurufootball You may just be correct regarding the barca players taking internationals too seriously. Messi asked to to play the full 90mins v portugal whilst ronaldo was taken off after an hour. Also, the whole spain squad were desperately trying to prove to everyone that they ain't the worst world cup winners ever by managing a 1-0 home win over colombia. However i think it has to do with the enormous effort they have put in over the past 16 games which is now beginning to catch up with them.
I went to see Cornellà this weekend. That is to say, my girlfriend wanted to go to the shopping centre beside it. It is bizarre, I don't know if anyone knows the history of its construction but it must be the only football ground where you could leave a match and be in Primark within 15 seconds. I am not joking - there is a pavement separating the entrance to the Primark from the entrance to one of the stands. Anyone know if it was built as one massive project? Or was it a stadium onto which they tacked a shopping centre? The stadium itself looks great, not at all one of your identikit modern stadia, and I am keen to see a game there. It has a hugely disappointing "Memorial Space", which is a large room with sofas and the opportunity to pay to put your name on the wall. The south end looks out over the desolate El Prat and the North faces the suburban Cornellà.
Nice piece as usual, Sid. As soon as I saw Milito was starting I just knew it would be the day to drop points. I still haven't understood why Pep convinced him to stay rather than ship him off to Málaga where he would fit right in with countryman DiMichelis - both equally horrible at defending fast breaks. Surely it would be better to start Fontás than Milito in his current form?!? And better still would of course have been Abidal - he's looked so fresh recently and actually rested both games against Betis in January, so I don't understand why he had to be rested after the international game. Makes no sense. He would've saved the goal rather than be rounded like a cone the way Milito was after Piqué missed. But OK, if it had to happen, I'm glad it did against Sporting. They played their hearts out, they showed the belief the whole game and didn't collapse after the equalizer - and of course they've got Preciado. Gotta love the man. And lastly - Callejón, what a terrible cheat he is. After Mou's comments on fouls on Ronaldo v. Messi, Marca looked at the stats and concluded Callejón was actually the most persecuted player in the league - 'cos apparently the stats say he's received the most fouls. As soon as I saw it I laughed out loud (and this was before last night's antics): the only thing that stat proves is he throws himself to the ground whenever someone comes within half a yard of him and the refs keep rewarding him for it. Please don't compare him to Busquets, who at least limits his exaggerations to real contact in the face. Callejón is in a whole different league, the one once inhabited by a certain Hristo Stoichkov. He made me almost cheer for Madrid to win, and that takes a lot.
Sixth victory on a row for Real Madrid Castilla under Toril, who has completely transformed this team since taking over. Morata scored a hat-trick, with Joselu, Juan Carlos, Denis and Sarabia completing the 7-1 win over Deportivo B. Carvajal looks promising as right back, Sarabia is lively and Morata reminds me of the most intelligent Morientes version at Real Madrid with Raul as partner. It's incredible what a new coach can do in a matter of weeks. This one certainly knew his players well in the Juvenil. The talent was there but at times things just don't work out.
As soon as I saw Milito was starting I just knew it would be the day to drop points. I still haven't understood why Pep convinced him to stay rather than ship him off to Málaga
It's a shame - he was shaping up last season, especially liked the way he played in the Bernabeu Clasico - but he gets injured too much, and then has to get his form back.
A sight touch by Iker? I didnt think so and that was a clear obstruction on a one on one goal scoring opportunity. Yellow card for sure, red depending on the referee. But didnt the referee return the favours later to RM. I saw many.
Yes slight. It was Callejon staring at the ref while rolling on the turf that gives it away. Yellow for sure though. And if you mean the offside call, it wasnt, but far from returning the favor since Espanyol couldnt decide whether it was beach soccer or beach volleyball. Khedira should have had a penalty. Marcelo was onside. Should I go on?
I see Guardiola and the Barca lads took their medicine with typical grace 'I am happy we played our way, and they played with 10 men behind the ball' was the quote I heard - no wonder it is hard to truely take to this brilliant side, given the unrelenting moaning that comes from the camp on every occasion after anyone has the temerity not to bend over for them.
i'm sorry, but did you actually watch the game? because Sporting patently did play with 10 men behind the ball; even their strikers dropping back well into their own half. that's why they were successful. credit to them, they did everything a team has to do to beat Barça and were unlucky (via a moment of brilliance on the part of Villa) not to scrape out all 3 points. but there are some people posting here all too willing to ascribe bad intentions to both Barcelona and it's supporters on these blogs, where none exist. a team plays with 10 behind the ball and Guardiola or whoever describes it as such; all of a sudden that's bad form? Barça fans come onto this blog and have done nothing thus far but give Sporting credit for an exciting game well-played, all too aware of their team's problems after international breaks, and they're accused of being intemperate? we know Barcelona are a great team, but sometimes a team can be great and not have a secret evil lurking in it (or it's supporters). the same phenomenon of trying to combat imaginary or banal demons was alive and well in Hayward's column yesterday. grow up.
Finally, if Ronaldo hadn't been such a greedy sod and had sytayed with us, he wouldn't be retiring today!
I thought it was Caledron and Capello who chased him away. With the entire team falling apart goofy and no strong manager on line has a splendid time with binge and purge behavior only went worse,
'Xavi's much lauded interview only serving to back up that perception'. Im sorry that must have passed me by, i thought Xavi came across as humble and intelligent in the interview providing a good insight into the Barcelona style of play.
If Madrid had lost Mourinho would have been whinging all week about St Iker's sending off. As it was he hardly mentioned it. Funny hey?
Funny? How is it funny? It's what it has to be expected. He plays his game. Same as Pep I-never-talk-about-referees-except-when-they-harm-my-team Guardiola. All coaches have to play their cards depending on the way the game is going on., competing on the pitch to win and and playing mind games off it to influence and generate a better enviroment for their sides.
have lost count of the number of Racing players who have crashed their cars pissed at 5 in the morning and these incidents do not even get reported
.
So how come you hear about them?
Pique was getting some stick fron the Sporting fans, ''Shakira es una puta''
Still not as bad as Beckham had to contend with back in the day
All coaches have to play their cards depending on the way the game is going on., competing on the pitch to win and and playing mind games off it to influence and generate a better enviroment for their sides.
Absolutely correct. Of course Mourinho would prefer Casillas to stay in. But I guarantee you he took full advantage of the situation by uniting the team against all odds, as he did at Inter.
Nice description of Pep. Remember when he even had to apologize for insinuating Catalonia wasnt part of Spain?
As soon as I saw the starting lineup I knew Guardiola was throwing away points. Sad to say of a player that has come through the injuries he has, but playing Milito is giving away a goal or two start. Maybe he thought he would give some of his players a rest ahead of Arsenal, but in the end they all ended up knackered after chasing almost the entire game. The yellow cards will come back to bite too. Silly, silly management.
Barcelona's Andrés Iniesta is tackled during the 1-1 draw with Sporting Gíjon. Photograph: Alvaro Barrientos/AP Manolo Preciado played his moustache like it was a harmonica, air racing out of his lungs, through the foliage and into the room. "Uuf," he said. "Uuf, joder." ****. Crafty fag extinguished, voice coarse and rough, language even more coarse and even more rough, so deep the floor vibrated, he shifted behind a giant bottle of Fuensanta, official water of Sporting Gijón, and played it again. "Uuf," he said, "a month ago we'd have lost 6-1." But this was not a month ago and Sporting did not lose 6-1. Instead, on Saturday night they drew 1-1 with FC Barcelona. And if draws are the new defeats for the big two, then draws against the big two are the new victories for everyone else. "This," Preciado said, "is a fantastic prize."
Outside, the fans could not agree more. Along the front, cold Atlantic smashing up against the sea walls, illuminated at one end by the Molinón, at the other by the church of San Pedro and in the middle by the moon, they were still celebrating. "Lo han pasado de puta madre", Preciado said: the fans have had a prostitute mother of a time. They had, too. This was a proper match in a proper stadium.
Intense and edgy and loud really, really loud. And with a happy ending. Fans roared at the final whistle as players embraced and Preciado leapt about punching the air. The red and white card from the pre-game mosaic what was left of it after 90 minutes spent sending paper airplanes heading towards the turf was tossed to the air in glee.
The banner at one end had declared: "Sporting Gijón, giant-killers since 1957."
Killers? Perhaps not, but the giant had eventually pulled up exhausted and offered his hand. At the offices of Asturias's oldest newspaper El Comercio they were finishing their cover: "And David stopped Goliath." AS were preparing a colossal ¡COLOSAL!. As for Preciado, he had described Pep Guardiola as "God"; now he was playing the iconoclast. Back in 1960-61, Alfredo Di Stéfano's Real Madrid won 15 games in a row and travelled to Asturias. The run came to an end with a draw against Real Oviedo. Fifty years later, Barcelona surpassed that record, won 16 games in a row and travelled to Asturias. Their run came to an end with a draw against Sporting Gijón.
Sporting, declared La Nueva España, imagining its panting hero diving for the cable as the final seconds ticked away and the planet held its breath, "unplugged the machine".
As draws go, this was one hell of a victory. Despite the fact that it could have been an actual victory. After all, Sporting led for an hour. Leo Messi lost out on the edge of the penalty area and committed a foul. As the stadium howled for a free-kick and a card, the referee instead waved play on. David Barral sprinted up the left, dashed inside and went past Gerard Piqué with a shimmy that doubled up as a warning that the centre-back shouldn't necessarily believe everything his missus tells him hips do lie. Easing past Gabi Milito, he smashed it into the bottom corner. "I could not have dreamed it better," he said. The noise made your ears bleed.
If Sporting were worth their lead, the second half was a different story. Eventually, David Villa's clever chip levelled it in the 79th minute. It was the fifth time he had scored against Sporting and the fifth time he had refused to celebrate. It was described as the "cruellest Vaseline" although frankly you can imagine worse but still Sporting's players said it "tasted like a win". Not just because it was against Barcelona but because of what it symbolised for Sporting. About both their past and their future.
Getting something out of a Barcelona side without Sergio Busquets and Carles Puyol, both of whom were absent the last two times they dropped points in the league this season, might have made the task look a little easier. Getting something out of Barcelona when they're suffering what the Spanish describe as the Fifa virus might have looked even easier yet they have won just six of 19 games immediately after an international break. But, still, getting something out of the side that had won 16 on the trot looked very nearly impossible. For Sporting it looked very really impossible.
Correction: for that Sporting it would have been very really impossible. Preciado was right: a month ago Sporting might have lost 6-1. And Preciado might have been out of a job. When Diego Castro scored an 89th-minute equaliser against Deportivo de La Coruña in week 16, he ran 60 yards to embrace Preciado. But if he thought the goal had saved his coach's job, he was wrong. The following week, Sporting were beaten 2-1 by Málaga. They had gone 10 weeks without a win and were bottom. The first division's longest-serving coach was about to get the sack. The president Manuel Vega-Arango called a meeting for the Monday morning. "I fully expected to wake up in the morning, look on the internet, turn to my girlfriend and say: 'Sweetheart, it's over'," Preciado admitted.
It wasn't. Not so much because Preciado, a potty-mouthed, funny, earthy coach, is as popular with most of the players as he is with journalists and other coaches in the game he reckons that the closeness of their relationship was a problem, making them even more desperate to win but because someone reminded Vega-Arango of something he had said at the Christmas lunch: "I'll leave this club before Preciado does." Prisoner of his own words, Vega-Arango hung fire. Preciado told his players he wouldn't die of hunger, even if he was sacked; he was in a job that "shouldn't even be called a job and on top of that the pay is the bollocks"; he told them that, having lost his career as a doctor because of a players' strike, having lost his wife and his son, he would recover.
Again, they rescued him. Against Racing Santander, Diego Castro scored a 91st-minute equaliser. And then it happened. Sporting started winning.
They beat Hércules 2-0, Atlético 1-0 and Mallorca 4-0. They had gone from bottom of the table to 12th, on the verge of the top half. Sure, they then lost 3-0 to Athletic but now they had only gone and got a draw with Barcelona. Twelve points in eight games more than half their total for the entire season. "If it hadn't been for Castro in the 91st minute against Racing and the 89th minute against Depor, I would have been sacked," Preciado said on Saturday night. "And then everything changed. But while we were on a horrendous run, it was a half a lie. You lose in the 95th minute to Villarreal and you think, joder, why is this happening? We haven't changed anything really; there has just been a psychological question. Plus the fans: today they carried us to this result. And there's been a bit of luck. A month ago we would have lost 6-1 and now we have drawn with the best team in the world."
"It is," he said, "pointing at his head, "all in here." Now, that might seem like a pretty inadequate excuse but it's also a compelling one. The search for a catch-all reason is a fruitless one. Sporting's fans have played their part, unity too, but sometimes the explanation appears almost pathetically simple: there is no explanation. Against Racing it was a last-minute equaliser; against Hércules, Sporting's first goal came with their first shot, after 23 seconds, and the second with their second; against Atlético comedy defending gifted them the win; against Mallorca they scored four, sure, and collected their first away win of the season, but even then they scored with every shot on target. And against Barcelona, though it was a hugely impressive, full of fight and organisation and effort, it had finished 6-1 in shots on target. To Barcelona.
Still they had become only the third team this season to even collect a point from Barcelona."This will give us a real morale boost," Preciado said, "the putada [the bitch, the bummer] is that it's only one point. They should give us more for this." They should but they don't. Three would have taken them to 12th. With Levante, Racing, Hércules and Deportivo all winning, with even Malaga getting a point, one means that climb to 12th has become a slip to 16th, a solitary point from the relegation zone.
"I always said that we weren't dead or decomposing back then," Preciado said. But they're not entirely safe now, either. And that's not the only tinge of regret. The winners from Saturday night weren't just Sporting and Preciado; the biggest winners were Real Madrid. For Sporting this was one point, for Madrid it was two. They took advantage to climb back to just five points behind Barcelona. Earlier in the season, José Mourinho and Manolo Preciado had a very public fight after the Madrid manager accused his Sporting counterpart of throwing his match at the Camp Nou by playing seven subs in a 1-0 defeat and Preciado called him a scumbag; when Madrid travelled to Sporting, it kicked off in the car park.
Preciado recently insisted that all is forgotten and that he would "go for beer with Mourinho tomorrow". Yeah, and this time Mourinho is paying. Week 23 Results and talking points:
Real Madrid closed the gap on Barcelona after a 1-0 win against Espanyol, despite playing virtually the whole game with 10 men. Iker Casillas was sent off for a challenge (with a very slight contact) on Jedward after just 81 seconds. "The whole of Spain thought we wouldn't win when that happened," said José Mourinho afterwards. If so, the whole of Spain is pretty silly. Madrid had entered into Mourinho territory. Marcelo scored a belter although someone could do with telling Carlos Kameni that you're supposed to dive into the way of the ball not out of it and Madrid should really have had more and killed the game sooner with Emmanuel Adebayor wasting a couple of wonderful chances. Casillas's sending off has provoked all sorts of debate, but no one seems to be asking the obvious question: why didn't José Callejón even try to stay on his feet?
Levante win three in a row. Bloody hell. It won't last, though: they go to Real Madrid this weekend coming. It's getting tight down at the bottom with everyone getting points. Depor won 1-0 against Villarreal through Lopo who was sporting a proper beard in a game that led to Villarreal losing third place. Hero Farinós scored for Hércules against recently-improved Zaragoza. But Málaga can't buy a win. Which is kind of ironic, really.
Atlético lost again but the fans decided that they weren't going to go for Quique Sánchez Flores. Instead they went for the men who were actually (more) guilty Miguel-Angel Gil Marín and Enrique Cerezo. Which seems to have kept the coach's job for now after all, they don't want to remove a potential shield or make another unpopular move but for how long?
Mental game of the weekend came in Santander where Racing beat Sevilla 3-2 sad, sad Sevilla with a last-minute winner. And a mental game gave way to a mental reaction from the new owner Ali Sayed, who was going absolutely bonkers up in the directors' box while José María del Nido sat stony-faced alongside him. It was pretty unedifying. But, let's face it, it was also pretty funny. And few are feeling sorry for the team where the legendary wind-up merchant Cristobal Soria works. Racing were under new management, with Marcelino back at the club after Miguel Angel Portugal was sacked. This morning Osasuna have confirmed that Portugal's former Real Madrid team-mate has been sacked too. Just two weeks after beating Madrid. Is there a warning there for Preciado?
It was the perfect weekend for Sporting fans. They got a great result against the world's best team. No, not Barcelona on Saturday night; local rivals Oviedo on Sunday night in the pouring rain at the Tartiere. A dire match finished Real Oviedo 01 Sporting B and even the sale of the club has fallen through. First Division Oviedo remain a Second Division B side. Real Oviedo, SOS! Results: Atlético 12 Valencia, Sporting 11 Barcelona, Racing 32 Sevilla, Hércules 21 Zaragoza, Málaga 22 Getafe, Levante 10 Almería, Real Sociedad 1-0 Osasuna, Deportivo 10 Villarreal, Espanyol 01 Madrid. Graveyard shift: Mallorca-Athletic. Latest La Liga standings Posted by Sid Lowe Monday 14 February 2011 14.33 GMT guardian.co.uk
Sporting show Arsenal how to stifle Barça Sporting Gijón ended Barcelona's 16-match winning run with a 1-1 draw ahead of Arsenal's Champions League game against the Spanish champions
Thanks for the kind words, but with ten minutes left, I was gutted! Took a truly exceptional goal, and from a Sportinguista no less, to even restore parity though, so there's plenty of comfort to take. I only wish we could play like that against the teams around us.
Gabi Milito has looked utter, utter crap this season. The Camacho sacking has been coming for weeks apparently, despite the result against Real Madrid; Mendilibar was the rumour I heard about 3 weeks ago. I'm not complaining - the Real Sociedad result saw my accumulator coming up. I had a double on with a Valencia victory. Happy days. The Caparrós-Sevilla rumour won't die: As were all over it during the week, and Del Nido only confirmed that Manzano would be in his job until July. I didn't know the sale of Real Oviedo had fallen through, that is sad.
I hope to God Sporting stay up - the league would be far worse without them. I won't begrudge them the draw, as they need the point more than Barça.
Malaga can't buy a win? Hmm... I see possibilities for a Mastercard ad there.
Kudos to Madrid in fairness - winning in the Cornella, after losing Casillas and playing practically the whole game with ten men takes quality.
Shame about Camacho - I have a feeling that sacking him will prove to be counter-productive for Osasuna.
massive respect to Sporting, they played like lions and were worth the draw. but Barca were good, too. the amount of moves they put together where they'd dance through 4-5 Sporting players was incredible. and only great blocking and a fantastic performance from Cuéllar kept the score to what it was. took a moment of genius from Villa to finally break through. can't believe that chance Pedro missed at the end! Kameni is such an idiot. he's either world-class or pub-level. he doesn't seem to have an inbetween. how the hell do you dive out of the way of a shot? still, Marcelo is criminally underrated. he's not that solid defensively but he contributes so much in attack you have to give him props.
El Efecto Ali en la tele.
The rough and the smooth.
Anybody who pumps millions of Euros into a club has every right to jump up and down when the team score a spectacular winner in the last minute to go 3-2 ahead. The fans also pay money to see this, albeit less than Mr Ali, and everyone in the ground was doing exactly the same. Nobody complained when Felipe and Letizia did a similar jig at the world cup final in front of the Dutch royal family. Saturday night was a final for Racing in a way with a lot of built up tension being released. Fourth from bottom and not having recently a lot to cheer about. The last home win was 28th of November 1647.
I read it was disrespectful to del Nido. Well sod Sevilla´s Mr Correctness. Of course El Preseeedente and El Alcalde looked rather grumpy. Do they even like football? Mind you they never pay. Revilla missed the winning goal as he was still downing his half time bucket of brandy as he had to eat his cow pie at dinner time with water to respect the new owners religious beliefs.
Mr Alis bodyguards were I D ed before the game by the Policia National and the Mercs were searched. "No guns were found." What is slightly more worrying is his 4 car motorcade screaming at high speed around town, wheeling spinning and shooting red lights. Although this type of driving seems quite popular in Spain.
I have lost count of the number of Racing players who have crashed their cars pissed at 5 in the morning and these incidents do not even get reported.
It seems that the only interesting weekends in La Liga are when Real or Barca drop points. It is also weird when a whole season of football feels like a procession. The bottom 18 teams in La Liga are an insult to football- this whole article is about celebrating Barca dropping a point..
I didn't manage to catch any other Lliga this weekend, was super-busy. but why sack Camacho? and just what the hell is wrong with Atleti? how does boardroom incompetence filter down so completely? speaking of incompetence: Gabi Milito. that is all. still, Sporting's turnaround is such a great story (although an article investigating why Barca are so consistently bad post-international break would be interesting too) and this article links nicely with the one you did earlier after the 0-1 loss to Madrid. also: sad to see Villarreal lose, but it would be kind of cool if the Riazor could become a real fortress again. oh and what price Raul to score on his return to Spain this midweek?
The title race is wide open again! Very, very, VERY poor performance from barca v sporting. Xavi, iniesta, messi, nowhere to be seen. Pique and milito making squillaci look like a good defender. Training cancelled yesterday becaause the players were 'too tired' acorind to Guardiola. 'El virus FIFA'. Excellent. The Casillas sending off is one of THE most disgraceful deciisons a ref has made against Real this season...and that takes some beating! Minimal contact. Casillas wasn't even the last man because Pepe was catching up behind not to mention that ridiculous dive from Callejon. What a despicable player (much like javi marquez and chica amongst others). Spent more time on the ground yesterday trying to get another real madrid player sent off than actually playing! Diving all over the place it was embarassing for Espanyol. No wonder we got rid of this poor mans jedward! You never saw him diving when he was put in clean through later in the game though. Baffling decision from the officiating team but that was in keeping with the tone of the game really. Adebayor doing his utmost to emulate Benzema and miss the most unmissable of tap ins. TWICE. Good to see Mourinho trying to discourage marcelo from using that imaginary ''show him the yellow/red card' hand gesture. Although I don't blame marcelo for doing it. Resilient world class defensive display from Real coinciding with the return of carvalho and pepe...the best defensive partnership in europe! Marcelo man of the match for me just ahead of Ronaldo (who could quite easily have had 4 assists and a brace). The brazilian full back was a beast last night. Copa Del Rey final...La liga still possible..champions league coming up soon...life looking good! Arriba Merengues! Abajo Barca!
Sid, have u written about Valencia lately? Despite losing the crown jewels of Villa and Silva, they've done incredibly well and seem to be on course to finishing in the CL spots when I actually thought they'd implode !! How is their financial position now? Any chance Arsenal can make a cheeky bid for Banega (who I think would be awesome with Cesc) or even Mata in the summer and be successful?
The bottom 18 teams in La Liga are an insult to football
What a genuinely retarded thing to say! As I said before, congratulations to Sporting, who were superb. Barca were shocking in the first half, but immense in the second and they defended with passion.
Fair play to Madrid too, they were the better team, anway to Espanyol with ten men, deserves respect! Kameni should of saved it, but Real had the lions share of chances so I won't begrudge them anything.
Is Pellegrini's job safe? He's clearly one of the best managers in the league, but could it be that he and Malaga just dont fit? Strange situation!
What about Monzano at Seville? I always thought of it as a Roy Hogson-esque appointment, could I be right? I mean, I know there are institutional problems at Seville, but this is ridiculous!!
i thought adebayor played really well. ok he should have scored 2 but atleast he hit the target. but he brought a dynamism which has been missing at the apex of the real madrid attack and boy did he work hard. ronaldo was fantastic too. marcelo has been great whenever i have seen him. he is fantastic in attack. not sure what to make of his defensive skills. he seem pretty competent at times but at other times his positioning is suspect. needs to learn from lord percy. despite some poor finishing the game was great in terms of seeing players running like mad. you had marcelo, ronaldo, adebayor, diarra all running full pelt. i enjoyed that
but no one seems to be asking the obvious question: why didn't José Callejón even try to stay on his feet?
because he's a big girls blouse in a big girls blouse falling over competition, previous winners of which include the bold diego capel and sergio busquets
From now onwards this is a problem Barca is going to be faced with. All games will be played like cup finals. Unless Barca score first and quickly settle into their familiar, scintillating rhythm, teams are going defend deep, crowding the central defense areas and leaving them barren space in the wings. With twelve or so teams still not safe from the chop in La liga, the only open games they are likely to get will be against the likes of Villarreal, Valencia and maybe, just maybe, Real Madrid. Champions League knock-out phase, Copa dela rey finals: It's going to feel like playing against Inter-Milan (Arsenal, take cue) twice a week.
I can't wait for the pundits to start calling for the mysterious, so-called plan B.
I thought last week end was more entertaining than the previous one. Good bit of drama on the pitch. Racing-Sevilla match was the pick of the week. Also a good win for Depo, for the few matches I've watched them they seem to be more disorganized than Levante and Zaragoza... the relegation contenders are all set for the photo finish.
Tiago Great post mate. Did we see a first park the bus practice run in the second half? I know RM could have / should have killed it in the second but it was mostly counter attacks.
At Manzanares this weekend I was more disappointed with Valencia than w my Atleti; I expected more from the visitors, to be honest - We were unlucky as well, a couple of palos, the late goal, and the absurd red card - Beginning of the game was good, but they silenced Reyes; the attacking pair is not working (maybe Forlan has finally reached his end?) and Q wouldn't throw in Diego Costa, so come on, nobody expects Raul Garcia to ever produce anything... - Anyway, Valencia I'm feeling it since the start of the season: they could be breathing RM in the back for 2nd spot, and in CL after knocking out Schalke if the draw is lucky perhaps even reach semis! - For Atletico it's probably all good if there's just the domestic competitions to focus on next year My main hope right now is that we can at least pass Sevilla, a team you cannot but dislike this season - Mr Lowe's linked piece from SI on them is really spot on too - Glad for the Racing win over them - And Casacantabria, your posts are DOPE! * Marcelo spectacular (only him though) - But let's be clear: the Espanyol players must have put money against themselves on this one: they didn't even attempt an attack all game: they didn't produce a single clear opportunity to score (a couple of lame passes goalwards in the second half hardly counts for shots), this while playing with one man more for 90 minutes - DiStefano himself, at 84, could have defended against that embarrasing joke of a display - Pochettino is such a cool guy, normally, but that was disappointing
Celti You are being melodramatic again. Did I say anything about the content of your post? No, you just assumed it again. All I said was that you guys posted early indicating that you are on here early. Nothing more nothing less.
went past Gerard Piqué with a shimmy that doubled up as a warning that the centre-back shouldn't necessarily believe everything his missus tells him hips do lie
If Madrid had lost Mourinho would have been whinging all week about St Iker's sending off. As it was he hardly mentioned it. Funny hey? It was almost worth it to see the sods win to save ourselves the moan. As for our boys, you could so how nervous Pique was from the get go. Either Milito gets more match practice our we flog him. Messi looked knackered. And what happened to Pedro? I think its always better to start with the full team and then make substituations when we're 3-0 up. Finally, if Ronaldo hadn't been such a greedy sod and had sytayed with us, he wouldn't be retiring today!
But let's be clear: the Espanyol players must have put money against themselves on this one: they didn't even attempt an attack all game: they didn't produce a single clear opportunity to score (a couple of lame passes goalwards in the second half hardly counts for shots), this while playing with one man more for 90 minutes
Guru
Did we see a first park the bus practice run in the second half? I know RM could have / should have killed it in the second but it was mostly counter attacks.
I see Guardiola and the Barca lads took their medicine with typical grace 'I am happy we played our way, and they played with 10 men behind the ball' was the quote I heard - no wonder it is hard to truely take to this brilliant side, given the unrelenting moaning that comes from the camp on every occasion after anyone has the temerity not to bend over for them. Xavi's much lauded interview only serving to back up that perception. Not an EPL supporter either just a fan who prefers to see a team make a match of games with Barca by whatever means rather than watch the borefests that most of their games have become. And hats off to Trezequet, great to see such appetite and true class shining through.
Gihon was brilliant in the first half. But still I would say Barca was excellent in the second half. Name a single team who can play those kinds of one twos in the final third when 10 men are defending. It wasnt just their day yesterday. But its good for Barca. They wont get any more complascent. A sight touch by Iker? I didnt think so and that was a clear obstruction on a one on one goal scoring opportunity. Yellow card for sure, red depending on the referee. But didnt the referee return the favours later to RM. I saw many.
Casa is absolutely correct... Actually, I think football should take a leaf from NFL on this one, and have club bosses in private rooms where they can celebrate and / or curse as much as they like. With club honchos, as with everything else, I'll take someone who cares (even if it's mostly their money they care about) over someone who doesn't give a fig every day of the week.... Keep bosses separated, and the problem is solved, really. As for Barça losing.... if they lose again tomorrow, or the next league game, then we may be onto something, but ringing the bells for this draw sounds like clutching at straws to me. What did people expect, they winning every game until the end of times? 1st half was pretty dire, 2nd was better, and at the end of the day, Sporting was lucky to escape with a very hard fought draw. Until more evidence is provided, this is a non story, I think... Good to see Depor bouncing back... c'mon guys, just 18 points more!
@Gurufootball You may just be correct regarding the barca players taking internationals too seriously. Messi asked to to play the full 90mins v portugal whilst ronaldo was taken off after an hour. Also, the whole spain squad were desperately trying to prove to everyone that they ain't the worst world cup winners ever by managing a 1-0 home win over colombia. However i think it has to do with the enormous effort they have put in over the past 16 games which is now beginning to catch up with them.
I went to see Cornellà this weekend. That is to say, my girlfriend wanted to go to the shopping centre beside it. It is bizarre, I don't know if anyone knows the history of its construction but it must be the only football ground where you could leave a match and be in Primark within 15 seconds. I am not joking - there is a pavement separating the entrance to the Primark from the entrance to one of the stands. Anyone know if it was built as one massive project? Or was it a stadium onto which they tacked a shopping centre? The stadium itself looks great, not at all one of your identikit modern stadia, and I am keen to see a game there. It has a hugely disappointing "Memorial Space", which is a large room with sofas and the opportunity to pay to put your name on the wall. The south end looks out over the desolate El Prat and the North faces the suburban Cornellà.
Nice piece as usual, Sid. As soon as I saw Milito was starting I just knew it would be the day to drop points. I still haven't understood why Pep convinced him to stay rather than ship him off to Málaga where he would fit right in with countryman DiMichelis - both equally horrible at defending fast breaks. Surely it would be better to start Fontás than Milito in his current form?!? And better still would of course have been Abidal - he's looked so fresh recently and actually rested both games against Betis in January, so I don't understand why he had to be rested after the international game. Makes no sense. He would've saved the goal rather than be rounded like a cone the way Milito was after Piqué missed. But OK, if it had to happen, I'm glad it did against Sporting. They played their hearts out, they showed the belief the whole game and didn't collapse after the equalizer - and of course they've got Preciado. Gotta love the man. And lastly - Callejón, what a terrible cheat he is. After Mou's comments on fouls on Ronaldo v. Messi, Marca looked at the stats and concluded Callejón was actually the most persecuted player in the league - 'cos apparently the stats say he's received the most fouls. As soon as I saw it I laughed out loud (and this was before last night's antics): the only thing that stat proves is he throws himself to the ground whenever someone comes within half a yard of him and the refs keep rewarding him for it. Please don't compare him to Busquets, who at least limits his exaggerations to real contact in the face. Callejón is in a whole different league, the one once inhabited by a certain Hristo Stoichkov. He made me almost cheer for Madrid to win, and that takes a lot.
Sixth victory on a row for Real Madrid Castilla under Toril, who has completely transformed this team since taking over. Morata scored a hat-trick, with Joselu, Juan Carlos, Denis and Sarabia completing the 7-1 win over Deportivo B. Carvajal looks promising as right back, Sarabia is lively and Morata reminds me of the most intelligent Morientes version at Real Madrid with Raul as partner. It's incredible what a new coach can do in a matter of weeks. This one certainly knew his players well in the Juvenil. The talent was there but at times things just don't work out.
As soon as I saw Milito was starting I just knew it would be the day to drop points. I still haven't understood why Pep convinced him to stay rather than ship him off to Málaga
It's a shame - he was shaping up last season, especially liked the way he played in the Bernabeu Clasico - but he gets injured too much, and then has to get his form back.
A sight touch by Iker? I didnt think so and that was a clear obstruction on a one on one goal scoring opportunity. Yellow card for sure, red depending on the referee. But didnt the referee return the favours later to RM. I saw many.
Yes slight. It was Callejon staring at the ref while rolling on the turf that gives it away. Yellow for sure though. And if you mean the offside call, it wasnt, but far from returning the favor since Espanyol couldnt decide whether it was beach soccer or beach volleyball. Khedira should have had a penalty. Marcelo was onside. Should I go on?
I see Guardiola and the Barca lads took their medicine with typical grace 'I am happy we played our way, and they played with 10 men behind the ball' was the quote I heard - no wonder it is hard to truely take to this brilliant side, given the unrelenting moaning that comes from the camp on every occasion after anyone has the temerity not to bend over for them.
i'm sorry, but did you actually watch the game? because Sporting patently did play with 10 men behind the ball; even their strikers dropping back well into their own half. that's why they were successful. credit to them, they did everything a team has to do to beat Barça and were unlucky (via a moment of brilliance on the part of Villa) not to scrape out all 3 points. but there are some people posting here all too willing to ascribe bad intentions to both Barcelona and it's supporters on these blogs, where none exist. a team plays with 10 behind the ball and Guardiola or whoever describes it as such; all of a sudden that's bad form? Barça fans come onto this blog and have done nothing thus far but give Sporting credit for an exciting game well-played, all too aware of their team's problems after international breaks, and they're accused of being intemperate? we know Barcelona are a great team, but sometimes a team can be great and not have a secret evil lurking in it (or it's supporters). the same phenomenon of trying to combat imaginary or banal demons was alive and well in Hayward's column yesterday. grow up.
Finally, if Ronaldo hadn't been such a greedy sod and had sytayed with us, he wouldn't be retiring today!
I thought it was Caledron and Capello who chased him away. With the entire team falling apart goofy and no strong manager on line has a splendid time with binge and purge behavior only went worse,
'Xavi's much lauded interview only serving to back up that perception'. Im sorry that must have passed me by, i thought Xavi came across as humble and intelligent in the interview providing a good insight into the Barcelona style of play.
If Madrid had lost Mourinho would have been whinging all week about St Iker's sending off. As it was he hardly mentioned it. Funny hey?
Funny? How is it funny? It's what it has to be expected. He plays his game. Same as Pep I-never-talk-about-referees-except-when-they-harm-my-team Guardiola. All coaches have to play their cards depending on the way the game is going on., competing on the pitch to win and and playing mind games off it to influence and generate a better enviroment for their sides.
have lost count of the number of Racing players who have crashed their cars pissed at 5 in the morning and these incidents do not even get reported
.
So how come you hear about them?
Pique was getting some stick fron the Sporting fans, ''Shakira es una puta''
Still not as bad as Beckham had to contend with back in the day
All coaches have to play their cards depending on the way the game is going on., competing on the pitch to win and and playing mind games off it to influence and generate a better enviroment for their sides.
Absolutely correct. Of course Mourinho would prefer Casillas to stay in. But I guarantee you he took full advantage of the situation by uniting the team against all odds, as he did at Inter.
Nice description of Pep. Remember when he even had to apologize for insinuating Catalonia wasnt part of Spain?
As soon as I saw the starting lineup I knew Guardiola was throwing away points. Sad to say of a player that has come through the injuries he has, but playing Milito is giving away a goal or two start. Maybe he thought he would give some of his players a rest ahead of Arsenal, but in the end they all ended up knackered after chasing almost the entire game. The yellow cards will come back to bite too. Silly, silly management.
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