Quick hits this week. Let’s get right to them:
Saturday
Stoke – Hull (15:00 GMT, 10am ET) : I wouldn’t usually get excited about a match between two promoted teams. This year it’s a slightly different story.
Sevilla – Barcelona (21:00 GMT, 4pm ET) : La Liga’s two best defensive sides, incredibly. It’s Barcelona’s first match against a top-five team this season, which suggests that they’ll only win by, I don’t know, 800 goals.
Sunday
Manchester City – Manchester United (13:30 GMT, 8:30am ET) : Ah, the Manchester derby. Man Utd haven’t scored in their last two games, and Man City have won the last two derbies. (Granted, that was when they were owned by the deposed prime minister of Thailand and managed by Sven-Göran Eriksson…you know, before things got weird.) This one feels huge because of the dramatic things that have been happening to Man City’s bank account. Sadly, all that money doesn’t have a squad number and probably won’t be allowed to play.
Inter – Napoli (14:00 GMT, 9am ET) : I’m mildly in love with Napoli this season. Thanks to the unaccountable fact that the people who set match times in different countries don’t have each other’s cell phone numbers (memo to Biarritz: can we skip debt limitation and get a central European authority for TV scheduling?), I’ll be missing at least the beginning of this game to watch the action in Manchester. But it will be with a twinge in my heart. And don’t think I won’t switch over at the first hint of defensiveness and/or “tactics”.
Chelsea – Arsenal (16:00 GMT, 11am ET) : Chelsea aren’t tumbling down the mountainside like Arsenal at this point in the season, but you get the feeling they’re clinging to a crag, staring down over their shoulder, and wincing every time their rivals bounce. Should be interesting.
I’m always eager to hear your thoughts about the games you’re watching, so if Adebayor goes pinging off the rock above you or Lavezzi does something brilliant that I don’t see, please feel free to describe the event in the comments.
Read More: Another Lost Weekend
by Brian Phillips · November 28, 2008
The Simplest Game Community
The Sevilla v Barca game is being billed as best attack v best defence in Spain. While this is also statistically true, it plays into the angsting about Barca’s defensive problems in the Spanish press, when they’re actually defending decently this season for the most part.
We will be at Inter-Napoli and are really looking forward to it, though I am a bit disappointed that the fact that yesterday’s snow is melting means that an orange ball is unlikely to feature.
Enjoy it, Ursus! I’ll be watching it on TV and busily praying Lavezzi doesn’t have a Kaka-esque effect on Samuel’s knees.
How credible is Thierry Henry on the left? I lean toward not very credible, but he’s just good enough at holding up the ball that I can’t completely decide.
If not for Palop, Messi would have about seven goals in this game.
For all practical purposes that was 800-0.
Brian, most Barca fans hate seeing Henry on the left, but I think they’re too harsh – he has his uses, although (the currently injured) Andres Iniesta would be my first choice for that left wing spot.
(Randomly: there’s sometimes a banner at the Camp Nou that says ‘Messi = dios’ in the colours of Newell’s Old Boys, his childhood club in Argentina.)
Also, having taken a look around, the common consensus amongst Barca fans seems to be that Messi had a really bad game.
Linda, the people on the Offside who are claiming that Leo was poor are delusional. He was sublime even before the two goals.
Watching that performance after seeing Madrid having their clocks cleaned by Sevilla (notwithstanding a referee who did more for them than most of their players) made for a very pleasant evening of sport. I didn’t even care that Juve thumped Reggina.
Does anyone understand why Ronaldo committed the handball that got him sent off? It was so blatant and so useless…it was as if he thought he heard a whistle and decided not to suffer the header. Really a confusing bit of play.
To those who have seen Barcelona more than me:
How effective is Henry on the left these days when the game is more stretched than it was yesterday? (If, indeed, Barca’s opponents ever allow the game to get stretched.)
Johan Djourou’s own goal at Stamford Bridge has just prompted Andy Gray to suggest that he coined the phrase “the corridor of uncertainty.” I’ve always liked this phrase and somehow it seems even better when Andy Gray is vaguely exploring the fantasy that he invented it.
Brian, Ronaldo looked to me like he was trying to protect what he considers his moneymaker. Priorities, man.
I can’t recall being at a match with three goals of such quality before. Cordoba’s was the weakest of the three, and would have a shout for Goal of the Week most weeks.
Fred, Henry has been inconsistent on the left, though he actually impressed me with some very uncharacteristic tracking back last night. He may well get his chance in the centre against Valencia, as Eto’o is suspended.
Brian, you do know that the corridor of uncertainty is from cricket, don’t you? I always thought it belonged in Clue (Cluedo for any Brits).
I have to assume Ronaldo did hear a whistle. He’s normally pretty good at heading the ball to be fair.
The corridor of uncertainty was coined by Boycott wasn’t it? I guess Gray may have introduced it to football. Though it doesn’t work nearly as well in that context so he’s welcome to claim it if he likes.
I’d be surprised if Gray even introduced it to football; I think he was just vaguely claiming ownership of a cliche: “It’s raining cats and dogs, as I always say.” It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode in which George claimed to have coined the phrase “pardon my French.”
Ursus — You’re right, what a great trio. Muntari’s goal looked like a high-school math problem (I mean that in a good way). Lavezzi’s was almost Messi-esque.
So glad I skipped this game to watch Rooney score a routine put-back and Ronaldo pretend to be a volleyball star. My fault for not committing myself to International Watch Another League Month.
as the offside pointed out, the ronaldo handball had quite a funny effect on the players around. benjani was consoling him because he knew ronaldo meant no harm, berbatov was dancing around, and rio high fived him.
if this had happened at arsenal, thered be hell to pay. rvp’s second was amazing though. it was the smallest space between his marker and the keeper while still being on target. classy goal.