Fire and Ice

With all the major leagues in Europe in full swing, let's take a look at a few teams/players who are firing on all cylinders and a few are already running on fumes.

Premier League:

The easiest place to start our tour is by taking a look at who is hot in the EPL. Manchester United are a perfect 5 - 0 and have already banged in an astounding 21 goals. Wayne Rooney is off to a blistering pace with a pair of hat-tricks and a total of 9 league goals. Rooney has also helped England to two straight victories in Euro Cup Qualifying by knocking in 2 more goals. Ashley Young has been another huge contributor for United with 2 goals and a league leading 5 assists.

United's noisy neighbors, Manchester City, currently sit in second place in the league table. The transfer of the summer, Sergio Aguero is challenging Rooney for the Golden Boot with 8 goals. The heartbeat of City's play is the dynamic tandem of David Silva (3 Assists) and Samir Nasri (4 assists).

Arsenal are by far and away the biggest disappointment of the new EPL campaign. 5 matches and only 4 points to show. Arsene Wegner's team is only 1 point above the drop. Injuries, suspensions and Arsene Wegner's jaw dropping transfer policy (spend some f**king money) have all contributed to the Gunners pitiful start. Things don't get any easier either. Jack Wilshere is out until November and from 9/20 to 10/02 Arsenal have 4 fixtures including a Champions League match with Olympiakos and trip to White Heart Lane. Good luck with that you "Gooners"

A few Individuals stinking up the EPL ... Number one with a Bullet is the $75 million turd Fernando Torres. Have a look at El Stinko in action:

A few others who are not quite up to their normal standards... Frank Lampard. This guy can barely get off the bench for Chelsea these days. When Fernando Torres told the Spanish media that his teammates were old and slow he was surely was talking about Mr. Lampard.

Jaime Carragher. I do believe the Ghost of Bill Shankly is going to visit me in my dreams tonight and kick me in junk for writing this, but Mr. Liverpool seems to have lost it. Carragher's blunder lead to Bolton's only goal in Liverpool's 3 - 1 victory. Carragher took down Jonathan Walters inside the penalty area (Walters converted) in The Pools loss to Stoke. Carragher was again called for a penalty today in Liverpools 2 - 1 Carling Cup win over Brighton. Pace has never been Carragher's strength but he appears to be running around in cement boots

La Liga:

Before this season started all the pundits, bloggers and footy junkies were saying that this is a two team league. Meaning Barca and Madrid would be fighting it out for the title. But here we are 4 games into the Spanish season and the boys with the bats on their shirts are in first place. Valencia has started the season with victories over Santander, Gijon and Athletico Madrid. Their biggest match of the young year was played today at home against Barca. Valencia held Europe's reigning champions to a 2 - 2 draw. Valencia has been powered to the top of the table by Roberto Soldado's league leading 5 goals. Can you hear that knock Fernando Torres? That's Soldado coming to take your place on the Spanish national team. Trust me

As hot as Valencia are, the same can not be said for Real Madrid and Barcelona. Barca already has 2 league draws and they drew against AC Milan in the Camp Nou! What?!?! Real Madrid have already drawn a league game and have been beaten by Levante!!! The Royal White's and The Blaugrana better wake up and stop taking these clubs for granted.

Bundesliga:

Ah yes...Germany. Home to fanatical fans, high tech stadiums and 1000 Derbies. Bayern Munich are off to a flying 5 - 0 - 1 start. Mario Gomez has knocked in 8 goals. They have already beaten some of  Germany's best clubs in Schalke, Wolfsburg and Hamburg. Munich also started out their Champions League campaign in fine fashion with a comfortable win over Villareal.

Borussia Monchengladbach had a dreadful 2010-2011 season. They finished in 16th place and just missed the drop! So how did they start the new campaign? By giving FC Bayern their only loss of the season in the Allianz Arena! M'gladbach are currently third in the Bundesliga table. M'gladbach are one of the most successful clubs in German history and it's good to see them starting the season so well.

Not starting well is my favorite German club, Hamburg SV. The Red Shorts have played 6 league matches and only have one f'ing point! ONE F'ING POINT!!! Coach Michael Oenning has already been sacked. Just a few seasons ago, Hamburg was a side overflowing with internationals and stars. Now I look at their lineup and I see nothing. At least there is no where to go but up.

Another Bundesliga team that is off to a stuttering start is current title holders Borussia Dortmund. They have started the season 2 - 1 - 3 and they are already 8 points behind FC Bayern. Perhaps playing in Europe has coach Jurgen Klopp's men rattled? Btw... have I mentioned Jurgen Klopp before in this blog? Well let me tell you about this guy. Jurgen Klopp rocks! He is as enthusiastic and as animated as any coach in Europe. He is all fire all the time. When his team scores I always expect him to run into the stand and join the supporters in some flag waving. I will say Klopp let me down a bit in Dortmund's UCL fixture with Arsenal. He was wearing a suit! In league games you rarely see him without a sweet Dortmund Hoody. He dresses like a common supporter! I love it. Turn it around Dortmund or you'll have to deal with this:

And finally... The Serie A

Only three games into the season and guess what? Inter have already sacked their coach Gian Gasperini. Nice knowing you dude, but you can't lose a Champions League match to the second best team in Turkey then start your league campaign going 0 - 1 - 2.  Italy is a weak league so they might be able to claw their way up the table but right now things look bleak.

AC Milan is not fairing much better at the moment. They have started the season 0 - 2 - 1. Inter and Milan have combined to win the last 7 Scudetto (league) trophies. It will be nice if another team can reach the top of Serie A. Perhaps....

Juventus. Juventus has added some real quality to their team with new boys Andrea Pirlo, Eljero Elia and Arturo Vidal. GiGi  Buffon is healthy for the first time since Italy won the World Cup back in 2006. At least it seems like it. And Juve have a brand new state of the art stadium in Turin. Aptly named 'Juventus Stadium'. How clever

Thanks for your time today or night or whenever. Let me know if there is something I missed by leaving a comment.

YNWA,

Scouser in St. Louis



Champions League Review

Champions League Group Stage
Tuesday and Wednesday brought us the absolute best in world club football! There is nothing like the Champions League. Tuesday's fixtures provided some real heavy weight match-ups while Wednesday's fixtures were just as enjoyable...
Let's get into a few of the matches that mattered (no offense to Viktoria Plzen supporter Diane Walsh)

Group E
Chelsea 2-0 Bayer Leverkusen -- Stamford Bridge
Michael Ballack made his return to The Bridge. He was given an award before the game and was given a standing ovation when he was substituted in the 66th minute
Non-goal scorer, Fernando Torres set up both goals for Chelsea. David Luiz (surprise, surprise, he's hurt again) and Juan Mata both showed El Nino what a goal looks like. Torres had several chances to score himself but gladly the drought continues... hahahahaha

Chelsea Manager and JC Penny shirt model Andre Villas-Boas, left John Terry and Frank Lampard on the bench to start the game. Clearly AVB is already thinking of this weekend's match up with United.
Group F
Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Arsenal, Signal Iduna Park

This match is what the Champions League is all about. Two great clubs. World class coaches and players and most  importantly, an Amazing venue. The Westfalenstadion was absolutely electric. For those of you still not watching the Bundesliga you are really missing out.
Dortmund signaled to the rest of Europe that they will have to be reckoned with this tournament. They peppered Arsenal with 23 shots, 6 of which Wojciech Szczęsny had to save.
Robin Van Persie's goal was classy but the highlight of the night belonged to Ivan Perisic. His game tying volley was absolutely out of this world! Check it out:

Oh, and Mario Gotze lived up to his billing for sure! If you didn't get to see him, he can best be described as a German Jack Wilshere. He's 19, he's a midfielder and he can play some breathtaking football.

Young players like Mario Gotze (Dortmund), Thomas Mueller (FC Bayern), Tony Kroos (FC Bayern) and Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid) practically guarantee the German National team will be successful for the next decade! They will give the Spaniards all they can handle next summer in Euro 2012. In fact, I'll be the first to say it. Germany will win Euro 2012. Mark it dude.

Group G
FC Porto 2-1 Shakhtar Donetsk, Estadio do Dragao
In a stadium that must have been named for the bad guy in Rocky IV this game delivered some heavy hitting. Donetsk landed the first uppercut of the night when the Porto keeper made a mess of a long range shot and Adriano was there to knock it in.

Then, who else but the Brazilian HULK smashed in a 35 yard thunderbolt of a free kick. Seriously, Roberto Carlos eat your heart out. Hulk Smash! Donetsk had two men sent off and Porto ended up getting a tap in goal from some dude named Kleber.

Group H
Barcelona 2-2 AC Milan, Camp Nou 

If you are a Barca fan this one was a little tough to stomach. Barca were ahead most of the game only to lose their lead in the dying seconds.

Pato (The Duck) did his best Carl Lewis impersonation as he sliced through Barca's makeshift defense to score the opener. Barcelona of course did not panic. They took control of the game playing their signature tic-a-tak football. Messi created for Pedro and Villa scored a stunner.

But then Barca did something they shouldn't have. They took their foot off the gas. Instead of going for 4 or 5 goals they were content to knock it around. And they Paid the price. On the last kick of the game Thiago Silva knocked in Clarence (the 5th Beatle) Seedorf's corner kick. Awesome night for AC Milan and a wake up call for Pep Guardiola's men.

Group A
Manchester City 1-1 Napoli, The Eastlands

OK... So I really thought that Napoli was going to get hammered Wednesday. The form that City have showed us lately really had me believing that an ass kicking was coming to Napoli.

When City's starting lineup was announced I commented on ESPN.com's Matchday Live. Of the thousands of soccer junkies logged in the moderator thought it was good enough to post. Check it out:

But Napoli played great! The three headed striking monster of Hamsik, Lavezzi and Cavani proved more than formidable to the City defense. Cavani opened the scoring for the visitors on some excellent counter attacking football. Koralov levelled for City with a magnificent free kick. Check it all out

Both teams hit the woodwork multiple times and a draw was definetely the fair result.

Villarreal 0-2 Bayern Munich, El Madrigal

Manueal Nuer played great between the sticks for Munich. Tony Kroos and Rafinha had excellent goals for Munich as they won comfortably

Group B
Inter 0-1 Trabzonspor, Giuseppe Meazza

Anyone that is keeping an eye on Inter could see this one coming. Inter fell apart in week one of the Serie A, losing late to Palermo. Their lineup is lacking in youth and excitement and the players appear not be playing hard for new manager Gian Piero Gasperini. Now it wasn't all bad for Inter. They certainly were not outplayed by the Turks. Trabzonspor keeper Tolga Zengin was brilliant! I commented on this match as well and the moderator on ESPN thought well enough again to post it:

Group C
Benfica 1-1 Manchester United, Estadio da Luz

When Benfica's chief punk Oscar Cordoza scored for Benfica I was ecstatic. I thought United were actually going to be involved in a real match. The group they landed in is absolutely laughable and this was their only true test. Away to Benfica. When Benfica comes to Old Trafford they will be handed an Arsenal style beat down (sorry again Ryan).

SAF rolled out a second string side and managed a point. Exactly what the Old Scot wanted, no question about it. Ryan Giggs... he's been tearing England and Europe apart since 1991. he delived again with a classic goal.
Mark it down. Right here, right now. The only United player that will ever get this treatment from me. Giggs is a legend. He deserves this:

Thank you for indulging me this evening. I hope you enjoyed the games as much as I did. Feel free to leave your own comment on any topic you like.

YNWA