Barca School Real Madrid

An unbelievable display by Barcelona tonight at the Nou Camp saw Barca hammer Madrid 5-0. Barca were absolutely stunning from start to finish with Messi lobbing Casillas in the 6th minute only for the ball to hit the post. It didn't take long to break the deadlock however, with Xavi netting in the 10th minute after an incredible through ball from Iniesta. It was a little bit lucky but Xavi was the epitome of cool, as he lobbed the ball over Casillas. Madrid were an absolute mess with no one willing to get close to Barca's players to stop them controlling the play. Barca seemed to have a spare man on the wing every time and so it was for the second goal when after a flowing move involving 28 passes, David Villa cut inside Sergio Ramos to smash the ball across the face of goal where Pedro met it to put Barca in control.
The game began to get a little heated as Madrid's players began to lose their heads; Ronaldo pushed Guardiola for not giving the ball back quick enough with Valdes running 50 yards to confront him. Both players were booked. David Villa was then booked for a poor tackle as Barca began to lose their cool too. A ridiculous moment followed, as Carvalho seemed to elbow Messi in the face. The referee decided to book Messi. A terrible decision. Any other game and Carvalho would have been off. Half time came at a good time for Barca so that Guardiola could cool everyone down.
The second half began at the same incredible pace and within 10 minutes they were 3 up. David Villa stayed onside to latch onto a Messi pass and curl a shot beyond Casillas. Three minutes later and the game was over. Madrid were caught upfield and Messi again found Villa who prodded the ball through the legs of the onrushing Casillas. Madrid were hopeless. Ronaldo was a disgrace. Instead of rolling up his sleeves and helping his team, he stood with his hands on his hips and mouthed out of him. Messi (who still hasn't scored against a Mourinho team) was incredible, regularly strolling passed 2 and 3 players and setting up 2 goals. Madrid began to get incredibly dirty with Alonso, Arbeloa and Diarra guilty of leaving the boot in. Another ludicrous decision followed when Carvalho deliberately handled the ball denying Pedro his second goal. The ref only booked him. Maybe he felt sorry for Madrid.
It was to get worse for Madrid. Bojan ended up in acres of space on the wing and hammered the ball across the face of the goal to Jeffren who scored the fifth goal of the night. As usual Sergio Ramos let his team down with a moment of complete stupidity. He seemed to punch Puyol and shoved Xavi in the face after a mass melee broke out when Messi was scythed for the umpteenth time.
Mourinho has a huge amount of work to do with this Madrid team if they are to win anything. The reason why Barca are so successful is because they work so hard for the team. Even David Villa was back making tackles. Ronaldo, Ozil, Di Maria and Benzema just couldn't be bothered. Messi is so brilliant because he wants the team to win. Again, he's back getting tackles in, he'll set up players who are in better positions, his passing was exceptional. Ronaldo was the exact opposite. Even his passing was horrendous tonight. Although i could go on about how dreadful Madrid were all night, the brilliance of Barcelona should not be under-sold.
Barcelona put in one of the greatest displays of football you will ever see. Their passing was exceptional, their ball retention was perfection and they tore their rivals apart at will. Even Puyol, Pique and Abidal played extremely well. Madrid didn't even have a chance at goal. It was important that they kept their heads just before half-time and Guardiola did his job well to cool everyone down. The video of this game should be played to kids as an example of how to play football. It's everything that the likes of Arsenal want to be but aren't. It is complete football at it's best. I actually think that this is the best footballing team ever.

El Clasico

The most eagerly anticipated game of the season is here tonight, Barcelona versus Real Madrid. It promises to be an absolute cracker as the teams sit first and second in the league with the top two goal scorers squaring off. Lionel Messi has 23 goals in 18 appearances in all competitions. Ronaldo has 18 in 19 games. I think that Barcelona are looking a little more vulnerable than they did last season and Real may snatch a win to move 4 clear at the top. Barca have lost at home to Hercules, drawn at Rubin Kazan and Copenhagen and drawn at home to Mallorca. That's a long way from the form they showed last season. David Villa has struggled to adapt to the team and Mascherano has been poor. In recent weeks they've hit a rich vein of form scoring 22 goals in 5 games but doubts persist over the team, particulalry the defense which gets worse every season.
Real Madrid have been much more consistent under Mourinho. They found themselves being booed by their home fans because they only managed to win 1-0 against Osasuna. However, they've been incredibly impressive in recent weeks scoring 20 goals in 5 matches and are unbeaten this season in all competitions. Di Maria, Khedira and Ozil have settled in quickly and Mourinho has gotten the best out of Ronaldo.
It's always difficult to predict these games. I have a feeling Madrid could sneak it as Barcelona don't have a great record against Mourinho teams. Couple that with the fact that Messi has never scored against a Mourinho team. That's an astonishing stat and suggests that Mourinho knows how to control the best player on the planet. Either way, i can't see this game disappointing so don't miss it.

Top 3 getting worse or are the rest getting better?

Alex Ferguson made the point after the weekend's round of games that the title race is closer this year because the rest of the league has caught up with the big boys in terms of talent and strength in depth. While the likes of Manchester City and Spurs have obviously added to their squads, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool are much poorer then they were. Arsenal were beaten by Braga tonight. They were beaten at home by Spurs after leading 2-0. They've also lost at home to West Brom and Newcastle. Despite what Wenger says they have a terrible team. There defense and goalkeeper is mid-table at best. Walcott and Wilshere are incredibly over-rated. Fabregas is playing like a guy who doesn't want to be there. Rosicky, Bendtner and Vela wouldn't make the bench at most top clubs in Europe. They're going no where and i think that Wenger has taken them as far as he can. They need a new manager and an open cheque book.
Manchester United struggled to beat 9 man Wigan 2-0 at the weekend. They've won 7 games out of 14. They've leaked goals all season. Their midfield is awful. And they couldn't beat Rangers at Old Trafford.
Chelsea are possibly the only team with an excuse out of the big guns. They've been missing Lampard for most of the season(that's 20+ goals), Essien has been injured quite a lot. Terry is missing. Alex is playing injured. However, they haven't helped themselves either. The signing of Ramires has been a disaster. He is so poor and has been missing in matches when his team need him most. Obi Mikel should have been sold too. He's awful. Kalou is too inconsistent. The sacking of Ray Wilkins has been a disaster for them, and has put Ancelotti under immense scrutiny. It seems Abramovich still hasn't any football sense. Between the 12th and the 27th of December they play Spurs, Arsenal and Man United. Ancelotti could be gone if those results don't pan out right for them.
So, are the others closing the gap on the top boys? Yes, but the main reason is because the top three are lacking the talent they once had. I also don't think that Spurs have any chance of winning the Premiership. The strain of playing in Europe and the Premier League will take it's toll and i wouldn't expect Spurs to make even the top 5. Strangely enough, i think that if the new Liverpool owners splash the cash in January they could actually nick a top 4 finish. They're only 6 points behind Manchester City and 3 behind Spurs. I don't know what all the fuss was about. Roy's doing a great job :)

Great Night For Boxing

Andy Murray produced probably the best display of his career to beat Claudinei Lacerna on points. Murray was dropped in the first round (the first time in his career) when a right hand found him off balance but he recovered unbelievably well. The knockdown served as a warning that Lacerna carried a huge amount of power and for the rest of the fight Murray fought intelligently at distance. Lacerna is a poor boxer who is looking for the one big punch and Murray completely outboxed him in the other nine rounds. Murray has great skill and technique but the worry of his defense is still going to be there after this fight. I still wouldn't be confident that Andy could beat the European champion John Murray but i was very impressed by this display.
Over in Atlantic City, Sergio Martinez avenged his loss to Paul Williams with the knockout of the year in the second round. Williams won a controversial split decision last year and Martinez was desperate for the fight to end swiftly this time around. Both fighters attempted to throw left hooks with Martinez getting his off first which landed flush to William's chin and sent him face first to the canvas. It was a stunning finish to a fight that most thought would be closely fought. It seemed that Martinez had learned lessons from the first fight, Williams hadn't.
Martinez is now considered top 5 in the pound for pound list. However, this brutal KO will probably rule out a big money showdown with Pacquiao and Mayweather. That leaves very few people for Martinez to fight as the Middleweight division really is lacking in big names. It really is hard to see where he will go after this. His best bet would be a rematch with Kelly Pavlik who he defeated after being knocked down but Pavlik's injury problems still cast a doubt over his fighting career. He could also opt to avenge his loss to Antonio Margarito who he lost to in 2000 after the fight was stopped in the 7th round.

Andy Murray Moves Up In Class

Ireland's Andy Murray faces possibly his biggest test tonight as he fights Claudinei Lacerda in Castlebar. Murray is unbeaten in 22 fights and really needs to be pushing for titles now. Lacerda looks like a dangerous guy and i'm not sure if he's the right choice for Murray. Although Lacerda is being hyped as ranked 14 in the world, that is only by the WBO. A win over Lacerda will not catapult Murray into world title fight contention as is being speculated. Lacerda is a big hitter with 9 ko's in his 14 fights and 5 in his last 6. This suggests there is more risk here than gain. Although Murray has a nice boxing style, he is not terribly elusive and may have to prove he can take some big punches if he's to win here.
A loss for Murray would be devastating for him. It would definitely rule him out of any clash with the big boys of this division. An impressive win over Lacerda may get him a shot at John Murray which i really wouldn't fancy Andy to win. It's a very tough division to progress from with Gavin Rees, Kevin Mitchell and Guillaume Salingue above him in the European rankings. All of these are world class fighters which Andy still needs to prove he is.
The fact that Lacerda has never boxed outside of Brazil may benefit Murray and i'm going to go with a Murray win on points. He needs to keep his defense tight and he certainly won't need to go looking for Lacerda as he's a very aggressive fighter. It is a step-up in class for him but in a tough divison he has to look impressive in victory tonight if he's to command the bigger fights.

Pacquiao Saves The Night

After the Haye debacle i was praying for a Manny show. I'm not the guy's biggest fan (i prefer Mayweather, sorry Manny fans) but he absolutely delivered on Saturday night. It has to be said that Margarito's style suited him down to the ground but the combinations, power and athleticism of Pacquiao are breathtaking. As much as it pains me to say it, i also have to pay a grudging respect to the bravery of Margarito. He made an amazing fight of it and hurt Pacquiao on a few occasions with massive body shots. He never hid and despite the horrendous beating he took in the last three rounds he refused to quit. He may have restored a bit of pride to his tarnished reputation.
As for Pacquiao, it's hard to say what's next. I don't think it will be Mayweather as he's involved in court cases which could see him jailed for thirty years. The likes of Yuri Foreman, Sergio Martinez and Alfredo Angulo are being mentioned at Junior Middleweight. None of these are big enough names to satisfy Bob Arum's urge to cash in on Manny while he can. Pacquiao himself has said he wants 2 or 3 more fights at most. Andre Berto could be an option at Welterweight. Although having seen his last few fights i wouldn't recommend it. Pacquiao would be too fast and powerful for him. Timothy Bradley is another fighter who could certainly command a shot. He's unbeaten in 26, holds the WBO Junior Welterweight belt but to beat Manny i think you need a knockout punch. 11 KO's in 26 doesn't point to that.
I actually believe that the winner of Marcos Maidana against Amir Khan should be next up for the Pacman. If Khan can beat Maidana then maybe his knockout to Prescott was a one off fluke. Khan has the speed and power and has sparred with Manny. If he can prove his chin is up to the task he may have a chance. Maidana has the power with 27 KO's in 28. Both fighters are beginning to become big names in the States so it could be big business. Either way, we have to hope that with Floyd Mayweather continuing his exile, Manny Pacquiao fights on for a while more.

The Worst Fight I've Ever Seen

Sky Sports really did do a terrific job at bluffing boxing fans tonight. Audley Harrison should be forced to give everyone who paid for the pay per view their money back. If you didn't see the "fight" you're lucky. Not one punch landed in the first round, kind of difficult when none were thrown. The crowd booed. In the second round the referee had to ask the two boxers to fight. The crowd booed some more. Haye lunged in with some punches, mostly missing, Harrison looked like a frightened victim. The round ended to more boos. It was horrendous. Haye decided that he'd better do something to save his dwindling reputation so he threw a couple of combinations at Harrison in the third round. Harrison looked absolutely petrified and collapsed to the canvas. I'm not sure why he bothered getting up but he did. Haye landed another combination and the ref stepped in.
Haye landed 35 punches. Harrison landed 1 punch. Harrison had an 8 inch reach advantage. He dwarfed Haye in the ring. He's a southpaw. What the hell was he doing? Well none of the Sky experts could tell us what went wrong. I can! Harrison is a joke. He has never been in the ring with a world class opponent. He should have retired years ago and he is frightened to take a punch. Maybe all of this crap was for one last big pay day. Sky should be ashamed of themselves as well. The undercard was a joke too.
The ridiculously overhyped George Groves was put down and saved by the bell in the 3rd round. Fine he stopped Kenny Anderson (who's fitness was atrocious) in the 6th, but his defense was disgraceful. He may be a big puncher but he is no where near even European level. Yet Sky are hyping him up so much. He may face James De Gale next. De Gale was probably sitting at home laughing at this. Overall, a dreadful night for boxing. Hopefully, Manny can put on a show later.

Give a Cheater a Chance

I've been reluctant to write about the Manny Pacquiao versus Antonio Margarito fight which takes place this Saturday in Dallas. This is due to my belief that Margarito should not be allowed into a boxing ring ever again after the hand wrapping scandal that overshadowed his fight with Shane Mosley. Margarito deliberately tried to cheat by loading his gloves which could have caused serious injury to Mosley if it hadn't been dedected. Freddie Roach, Manny's trainer believes that Margarito loaded his gloves in fights against Kermit Cintron and Miguel Cotto as well, but he belives he got away with it and won those fights. So why the hell is he been given a chance at fighting the most marketable boxer in the world? He was banned for one year which is an absolute joke. It seems that the financial clout of his promoter Bob Arum forced the hand of the boxing commission.
So Margarito kept his head down and played the grateful reformed character? Of course he didn't! To show the class of the guy and his team, a video has been released which shows Margarito mocking Freddie Roach. He is seen shaking his hands and head in reference to the fact that Roach has Parkinson's disease. His trainer, Robert Garcia, is shown with a metal weight on his hand, joking about the hand wrap scandal. The guy is obviously a brain dead moron. He has proven he doesn't deserve a second chance. The best we can hope for as fans is that this guy gets a serious boxing lesson on Saturday. He is a sickening insult to the sport and we really need to hope he doesn't beat Pacquiao as it would be a serious blow to the reputation of the noble art of boxing.

If David Haye Loses He Should Quit Boxing

As you may know David Haye will fight his fellow Britain, Audley Harrison, for the WBA heavyweight title on Saturday. Sky Sports have pulled out all the stops in trying to hype a fight that nobody wants to see. It has been claimed that Haye was knocked down in sparring, that Harrison is more hungry than ever before, that Haye is underestimating Harrison. Everyone has been asked for their opinion; Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Wladimir Klitschko and then Harrison was thrown onto the pitch to shadow box at half time at the Spurs- Bolton game which was live on Sky Sports. Of couse everyone that is asked says that Harrison has the ability to beat David Haye. Rubbish!
He found a knockout punch in the 12th round against a shot Michael Sprott after losing every round. He won the Prizefighter competition against no one of note. He lost to Martin Rogan who was fighting in only his 11th bout. He was knocked out by Sprott in 2007. Hardly a record to be feared.
David Haye should be ashamed of himself for taking this fight. All of his macho trash talk is pointless. Everyone in the boxing world knows that he has dodged the Klitschko brothers. The American press have barely acknowledged that this fight is happening. If Haye were to lose he should retire in shame. If Haye wins he needs to keep his mouth shut and prove himself against real heavyweight opponents or his legacy which he keeps rambling on about will be forever tarnished. The fact that this is a box office fight is a disgrace as well.

Pulis Wants Referees Relegated

Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager, feels that every club should have a vote at the end of the season on referees, with the three worst refs being relegated and the three best Championship refs being promoted. Poor old Tony has seen some horrendous decisions given against his side in the last few weeks. One at the weekend really stands out though. Lee Cattermole decided to stop a goal-bound header from going in with his hand, only for the ref, Martin Atkinson, to give a corner. Obviously Cattermole should have been sent off and a penalty given to Stoke (who went on to lose 2-0) but to infuriate Stoke further, they went on to lose Ryan Shawcross to 2 bookings. Pulis has a right to be angry. The decisions have been disgraceful (Gary Neville escaping a red card 2 weeks ago!) and they have certainly cost his side valuable points.
However, relegating refs? I'm sure the likes of Roy Keane and Billy Davies would be delighted at the blundering refs getting sent to their division. That could absolutely never work. I do think that they should be punished. Dropping them for a few weeks maybe. The problem is that refs can argue that the game is so fast that of course they are going to make mistakes. The introduction of extra officials has worked slightly in the Europa League. But the solution in my opinion is video replays. Instead of sitting third from bottom, Stoke would be in the relative comfort of 11th with this technology causing a 30 second delay of the game at most (it takes that for the players to moan at the ref about his decision). It's time to start moving the game forward so that we're not talking about poor refereeing decisions every Monday morning. Video technology is used in almost every other sport. It's time for football to catch up.

Big Bang Casey Captures European Title

Willie Casey forced a fourth round stoppage of Paul Hyland to win the European Super Bantamweight title in only his 11th fight. Hyland will be bitterly disappointed this morning because he never really turned up for the fight. He has by far the better boxing skills but he got his tactics completely wrong by deciding to stand toe to toe with a much bigger puncher. After an exciting first round with both fighters landing good combinations Casey began to outwork Hyland and landed some vicious body shots. I have no idea what Hyland was attempting to do in round three but he got caught on the ropes with Casey unloading on him while he threw very little back.
I felt that if Hyland stayed away from Casey and just used the jab without trading he could win this on points. That never looked likely to happen though as Hyland proved ridiculously easy to hit. In round 4, Hyland was caught on the ropes again and came under a sustained attack from Casey. The referee stepped in as Hyland was offering no resistance. I felt the ref was a little to quick to stop the fight but a telling factor is that Hyland didn't complain.
Casey must now defend his belt against Kiko Martinez, in a fight which should be a real classic between two power punchers. Casey isn't the greatest boxer but his punch power could take him far enough. He demonstrated a little more head movement and his switch attack between body and head was impressive. He certainly won't fear Martinez but he won't be able to just walk through him as he did Hyland. His body shots could be the decider considering that Martinez pulled out of this bout with broken ribs.
On the undercard heavyweight Martin Rogan won his first fight back, after being injured for over a year. He defeated Yavor Marinchev in one round with a body shot doing the damage. Marinchev was a bit of a joke though and was asked by the ref if he actually wanted to box as all he did was hold on. Rogan will fight again on the undercard of the Andy Murray fight in 2 weeks.
Cork-based Cuban Luis Garcia defeated former world champion Byron Mitchell in a light-heavyweight bout. Mitchell absorbed a lot of punishment and decided not to fight on after suffering a cut eye in the second round. Mitchell looked a completely shot fighter and at 38 should think about calling it a day.

Mancini demands respect!

Roberto Mancini feels that the English press is ganging up on him because he's Italian. He also feels that he is no danger of being sacked. Surely he can't be that naive. I'd say that if City lose against either West Brom or Manchester United in their next two matches, Mancini will be looking for a new job. I feel a certain amount of sympathy for him because as i said  before, it's impossible to keep that many star names content. Three losses in a row has left Mancini clinging to his job by his fingertips. The horrendous displays against Wolves and tonight against Lech Poznan suggest all is not well behind the scenes. There have been on-field bust-ups between Vincent Kompany and Adebayor and Yaya Toure and James Milner. Yaya Toure has also questioned the ambitions of some of his team mates which is laughable considering he left Barcelona for a team who are in the Europa League and who haven't won a trophy since 1976. It seems that the team is made up of over-paid, egotistical lunatics who have completely over-inflated opinions of themselves and their talents.

It really is starting to look like a situation that is unmanagable and with the amount of money being spent, expectations are ridiculously high. I'm not sure who City could get in to replace Mancini or if a big named manager would even take the job. Mancini is a good manager and he needs to be left alone to do as he sees fit. As i said before though, they have too many players for each position and that means that big names (and egos) are being left out which is obviously causing tension in the dressing room. The 3-1 loss tonight was incredibly poor and it really leaves Mancini in a dangerous position.

Well done to the English and Italian FA's

It won't be often that i'll say this so i thought i'd better commend the football associations of both England and Italy for jobs well done this week. In my original blog on the Krasic dive, i applauded the Italian FA for suspending the player for two games using video footage. Well Juventus appealed the decision, which in itself is scandalous and paints the entire football club badly in my opinion, but the Italian FA have upheld their ruling which means Krasic will miss the games to Milan and Cesena. It's a pity they didn't add more games for having the cheek to appeal but well done to them for not backing down.
Then, in my last blog, i said i hoped that the FA would see some sense and not ban Harry Redknapp for his post-match comments after the Manchester United game. Well, happily the FA have just issued a warning to Harry which i think is fair enough as i still think the Spurs manager had every right to be livid after the game.

I agree with Harry

I'm sure by now most of you out there have seen the self-proclaimed best player in the world, Manchester United's Nani, score one of the most ridiculous goals of all time against Spurs at the weekend. Well, obviously Harry Redknapp is still furious at the decision to allow the goal to stand and he has now threatened that if the FA charge him over his post match interview he will refuse all TV interviews in the future. I hope that the FA see the real story here and that is that the only people punished should be the officials who made Premier League football look amateurish. Mark Clattenburg (the same referee who missed Pedro Mendes goal against Manchester United in 2005) and his assistant should be suspended for their ridiculous error and Redknapp should be commended for holding his tongue as much as he did.
Redknapp called the decision "scandalous" and said that Clattenburg will "go in and come up with a story that will make it all look right". Some people have pointed out that the Spurs keeper Gomes should have played to the whistle, but if Clattenburg is playing advantage who the hell is that benefitting when it's in the Spurs penalty box. It really is ridiculous. The fact that the outcome of the game may not have changed is not an argument in my opinion. Yes, United probably would have won one nil but surely we should expect referees to get easy decisions correct at all times. At least have the integrity to come out and apologise Clattenburg.