After the opening, before the closing

Barce Envy!

Thursday morning I got up, late for work, got dressed and left my girlfriend's flat and headed for work and checked twitter on the way to the metro.

Now none of this is particularly interesting I agree but my girlfriend's flat has no signal for my phone and thus checking twitter leads me to read all tweets since about 8 o'clock the previous evening.
As I began my reading I realised that on top of the usual crap there was football to catch up on, namely El Classico.

As the updates began it became apparent that Real were on top and Barcelona were struggling to compete, they were soon 2-0 down and had Adriano sent off. Oddly enough I wasn't really surprised by this. I was, however, taken aback by the amount of vitriol tweeted against Barca and how much glee there was in seeing them lose.

Over the last few years the Catalans have excited and entertained us by playing their brand of beautiful football, they've done it all whilst winning endless amounts of trophies. Such is the appeal of how Barcelona play that the Spanish national side have adopted this approach and this has bought about 2 European Championships and a World Cup triumph. And yet there is happiness when they lose?

There is criticism when Stoke win and achieve above their expectations playing in a way that is considered 'anti-football' now there is joy to see Barcelona lose playing a completely opposite way, for me both can be explained by envy. Arsenal have had no success playing what they believe to be Barcesque football so they instantly patronise the way Stoke win matches, meanwhile other teams question if Lionel Messi could "do it" on a cold Wednesday night.

The football snobbery and jealousy is pathetic and needs to stop. We should embrace the differing styles of football, much like great fights in boxing are created by differing styles so are great football rivalries.
Another reason for the hatred of Barce is that the press swoon over them and in particular Messi and so people get bored of all the stats and praise to some extent this makes sense but the reason that people go on about Barcelona is simple, they are perhaps the best side to ever play football and that is something to celebrate!



18 Months is a long time in football

Can it really only be 18 months since that barmy couple of days at the end of January 2011 when Chelsea splashed out £50 million pounds on Fernando Torres and Liverpool used the cash raised to pay £35 million for Andy Carroll, for both much has changed since then.

Torres was at the time already short of form and often getting injured. Carroll, on the other hand, was flying high in his first season in the Premier League, given the famous number 9 shirt for the Magpies and had netted 11 times in just 19 Premier League games. Then came the Chelsea bid for Torres which would lead to Carroll going to Liverpool, it was too much money for most transfers never mind for a just turned 22 year old fresh in the Premier League.

The moves turned out to be awful for both players with both having dreadful first full seasons with their new clubs. Torres though has benefited from a summer transfer campaign geared towards playing him as the main man upfront on his own whilst Carroll has had to sit back and watch the new manager transform Liverpool into a side that would never be able to function with him in it.

Carroll has been sent to West Ham on loan, he didn't really want to go but he had to if he wanted to play this season. At the Hammers he will get the chance to be the main man but with far less expectation baring in mind the last 18 months and the lowly £1 million pound loan fee.

It may only be 18 months but at 23 and worth £34 million pound less this is a crucial time for Carroll's career.

Spurned in the Champions League

For the 2nd year in a row Manchester City were handed a horrible draw in the Champions League group stages after being grouped with the champions of Spain, Holland and Germany.

Manchester United, on the other hand, were handed another easy draw this time being drawn with Braga, Galatasary and Cluj. 

I was asked how I felt about the draw and as a United fan I was pleased to get an easy group but a little gutted there was no exciting matches, unlike in City's group. I then heard Spurs fans compare City's plight to their own Champions League experience when they played Inter Milan, A.C Milan and Real Madrid and loved every minute of the journey even when losing. This was an admirable stand point but not the right one.

The Spurs experience was one of "happy to be here", "lets enjoy it whilst we can" and so the trips to Milan and Madrid were exciting and magical no matter what. Spurs hope to get in the top 4 for the money and the prestige, City on the other hand hope to qualify for the Champions League by winning the Premier League and then going onto win the Champions League and so their draw is a bad one. No doubt it will give them great experience playing big teams rather than being an experience.

Basically get through the group easily and earn the chance to play the likes of Barcelona in the quarters, semis and final and that's what United should do, City on the other hand...