So what have we missed....

Since my last post quite a bit has happen in the world of BigTimeFootball

Man City has gone 5 points clear of city rivals United...

This is shaping up to be another excellent season in the Premier League. Man City look like they can win every competition they play in, including the Premier League. Mario Balotelli isn’t looking so crazy after all. Super Mario has scored 5 goals in the Premiership and 8 goals in all competitions. Yaya Toure has been excellent is the middle with 3 goals and 4 assists. Dzeko has scored 10 League goals while Sergio Aguero has banged in 9. The heartbeat of the Man City side continues to be David Silva. He is amazing! Silva has 4 goals and 6 assists in 11 league games. He is the most creative midfielder in England right now. He has outshined Nani, Frank Lampard and Gareth Bale and Luka Modric.

Some excellent games since my last post.

City kicked United's ass 6 - 1. Once United went down to 10 men to flood gates opened and City went for the jugular. Not only did City bang in 6 at Old Trafford but each one of their goals came on the end of free flowing, pass and move, elegant football. Truly fun to watch.

Arsenal beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge 5 - 3. This was a classic. Arsenal and Arsene Wegner were supposed to be dead and the Gunners walked into the bridge and smacked down the Blues. Van Persie banged in a hat trick and he currently playing out of his Dutch mind

A Team looking pretty good right now ... Newcastle United. Newcastle are currently sitting in 3 place with 25 points from 11 contests. In the past two season Newcastle have lost Andy Carrol, Kevin Nolan and Joey "I deserve a call up to England" Barton. Head coach Alan Pardew has supplemented his former big name players with footballers more suited to the style of ball he wants to play.

Demba Ba was picked up from West Ham and he leads the club with 8 goals. When I watched the guy play at tiny Hoffenheim of the Bundesliga, he looked a great player then and he looks even better st St. James Park. Frenchman Yohan Cabaye has replaced Kevin Nolan in the midfield. Cabaye is an excellent passer and doesnt shy away from a tough tackle either. Watch out for Newcastle this year

A team not looking so good right now ... Liverpool. I must admit I find it harder to blog consistently when my Reds are playing poorly. Now Liverpool is not playing terrible but they are not playing up to their potential either. Liverpool are drawing at home to the likes of Swansea and Norwich. What!?!? They should be pounding the newly promoted teams. This is a problem that goes back to last season. In the 6 games last season against the new boys Liverpool lost 4 of the 6. Results like this will not egt Liverpool back in the top four let alone winning the league.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Reds. Their next three games are away to Chelsea, home to Manchester City (a fixture they did win last year) and a Carling Cup tie away again to Chelsea. COME ON YOU REDS!!!!!

Upcoming fixtures.... mark these games on your calendar and find a way to watch them

Saturday November 19th:
- Man City host Newcastle ... did I jinx Toon Army?
Sunday November 20th:
- Liverpool travel to Chelsea to take on Fernando Torres. I am hoping Steven Gerrard will be back by then. The Liverpool midfield needs their playmaker back.
Saturday November 26th:
- Newcastle stay in Manchester only this time they will be taking on the red side of the city.

Real Madrid and Barcelona have reclaimed the top two spots in La Liga.

Leo Messi and Christiano Ronaldo are fighting for the Pichici trophy as La Liga's top scorer. Messi currently has 14 league goals to Ronaldo's 13. Madrid is currently sitting at 28 points from 11 fixtures while barca have played the same amount and only claimed 25 points. Barca's trouble has been draws. They have 4 draws. The injury bug has bitten Barca but we still expect them to do better.

Madrid's upcoming fixtures look tricky so if they want to stay on top they will have to play their best football:

Nov 19 - Valencia v Real Madrid, Mestalla

Nov 22 - Real Madrid v Dinamo Zagreb, Santiago Bernabéu, Champions League
Nov 26 - Real Madrid v Atlético Madrid, Santiago Bernabéu
Dec 4 - Sporting Gijon v Real Madrid, El Molinón
Dec 7 - Ajax Amsterdam v Real Madrid, Amsterdam ArenA, Champions League

Barcelona also have some upcoming fixtures that should give pep Guardiola's men more tough times:

Nov 19 - Barcelona v Real Zaragoza, Camp Nou

Nov 23 - AC Milan v Barcelona, Giuseppe Meazza, Champions League
Nov 26 - Getafe v Barcelona, Coliseum Alfonso Pérez
Nov 30 - Barcelona v Rayo Vallecano, Camp Nou
Dec 4 - Barcelona v Levante, Camp Nou
Dec 6 - Barcelona v BATE Borisov, Camp Nou, Champions League

Comparing the fixtures list it looks like Madrid has the tougher road leading to our first El Classico of the season.

Dec 11 - Real Madrid v Barcelona, Santiago Bernabéu

 

Bayern Munich is reminding Germans who the top dogs in the Bundesliga are.

After matchday 12, here is the top 8 of the Bundesliga:

Club - points:
Bayern - 28
Dortmund - 23
Bremen - 23
M'gladbach - 23
Schalke 04 - 22
Hannover 96 - 19
Stuttgart - 18
Leverkusen - 18

Dortmund and Leverkusen appear to be struggling just a bit with playing a full Bundesliga schedule and playing Champions League games. Last years 4th place finisher Hannover 96 are also involved in Europa League play and they have seen their form dip a bit.

Bundesliga Top scorers:

Mario Gomez - FC Bayern -13
Claudio Pizarro - Bremen - 11
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar - Schalke 04 - 10
Lukas Podolski - Koln -9
Papiss Demba Cisse - Mainz - 8
Robert Lewandowski - Dortmund - 8

This weekend after the European break offers us up some mouth water fixtures. Keep on the lookout for the following games:

11/19 - Wolfsburg v Hannover 96

11/19 - Schalke 04 v Nurnberg
11/19 - M'gladbach v Bremen
11/19 - Bayern v Dortmund
11/20 - Hamburg SV v Hoffenheim
 

Whats new in Calcio ...

Antonio D'Natale has found the net 8 times in 10 games to move Udinese to the top of the table. Meanwhile Inter only have 8 points from nine fixtures. That would be hilarious if I wasn’t such a big fan of ... oh wait. That is definitely hilarious

Saturday October 29th brought us the first "Derby of Italy" where Juventus defeated Inter 2 - 1.

I could tell you the top goal scorers and list the top of the Table but I don’t have a word count to work towards and those details would really just be filler at this point. I wish the Italian league was better I really do, but most of the talent has left the country and the top clubs are all over the place right. There is just not that much to get excited about in Italy.

Coming soon Euro 2012 qualifiers wrap up tomorrow. I will break down all of the national sides tat made the tournament.

Welcome back readers and thanks for staying with me!

YNWA