Friday 2 April 2010

10 Random thoughts from this week’s Champions League quarter finals

Alex Song is the new Darren Fletcher

1. The first 20/25 minutes of the Arsenal vs. Barcelona tie was perhaps the greatest exhibition of football I have ever seen. Am I getting lost in hyperbole? Maybe, but the way Barcelona moved the ball, the way they kept up a spell of constant almost intoxicating pressure, suffocating their highly regarded opponents with a hypnotic range of passing was staggering to behold.

Over the years football fans have been blessed to see many great sides, but during my lifetime I have never seen an opening to a game where an away side completely and utterly dominates so comprehensively and so spectacularly. I've watched a lot of football and I'm struggling to think of a period of play when I've had my jaw on the floor at such unbelievable team brilliance. This wasn't a case of one or two players blesses with amazing ability dominating, it was an entire team, moving, thinking and reacting as one. Quite simply a joy to behold, and as my good friend Mr. Tim Rickard pointed out the day after, to any person who ever says "why do you care about football?" show them that Barcelona performance.

2. That's the reason Barcelona bought Zlatan Ibrahimovic this summer. The footballing equivalent of marmite finally answered a few of his largely English critics. Much has been said about the huge multi-million pound swap deal that saw the Swede arrive at the Nou Camp and Samuel Eto'o move to the San Siro, with most of it focusing on the fact that Barca were making a huge mistake. The reason all along behind Guardiola's decision to bring him to the club was for very nights like that at the Emirates.

Inspired after the games against Chelsea last season, Guardiola decided that the Catalans needed a different option, someone with height and power yet someone who would also have the technical ability and touch to be able to fit into the way Barcelona play. On Wednesday night, for all their brilliance Barcelona still hadn't made the break through until they were able to play it more directly, and Ibrahimovic profited. It should also be noted that for a man accused of never turning up in the big games, the Barcelona no. 9 has scored a lot of big goals this season.

3. Alex Song is the new Darren Fletcher. That's meant as the compliment it was intended.

4. I've always felt that someone who has an ideology believes firmly in that ideology and who doesn't compromise in the face of extreme pressure is someone to be admired. However, pragmatism gets the better of all of us at some point and that's not necessarily to be criticised - sometimes we simply gave to react to the situation we find ourselves in and try to make the best of it.

For 60/70 minutes of the first leg of the Champions League quarter final at the Emirates Arsenal were as comprehensively outplayed as you can possibly be. In all but the scoreline it was a battering, yet it was not a battering of long balls and hard tackling but a battering in a manner that Arsenal would have carried out themselves to many a team, and that was perhaps what resulted in a first half where the London teams sole contributions to the game was to sit deep, get men behind the ball and commit a lot of fouls.

As I say, we all need to be pragmatic at times in our life, and the fact that Arsenal are still in this tie perhaps vindicates some of their approach, however given the long list of loud grievances and gripes we've heard from Arsene Wenger in recent years when clubs do this to his side, were we perhaps entitled to expect a little better?

5. Theo Walcott has to go to the World Cup. Since that heady night in Zagreb, the 21 year old, it would be fair to say has flattered to deceive, and there have been times when even his manager has appeared frustrated at the lack of real progress in his game, and yet, his cameo of the bench on Wednesday when he effectively changed the game shows why he still has a vital role to play for England this summer. Regardless of whether you feel that he has the footballing brain and technique to take his career to the vary top level is open to debate but the fact remains that when you have that raw, unbridled, devastating pace you will always be able to have a positive, game-changing impact.

6. Sir Alex Ferguson is a genius. *Arguably* the finest manager to ever grace British football and a man whose CV stands up to any one's in history. However (and really who am I to criticise the great man?) I just felt that he made something of an error on Tuesday night against Bayern Munich where a couple of odd second half substitutions effectively handed the initiative to the German team.

For much of the game the English champions had seemed in control of the game, squeezing the life out of Bayern's more attacking players. The manager's decision to remove Michael Carrick and Ji Sung Park for Dimitar Berbatov and Antonio Valencia could be interpreted as a move to try and kill the tie in the first leg however what it did was significantly open the game up and give Bayern the opportunity the chance to get at their opponents far more often, leaving the game increasingly stretched. In the second half the Bavarian's were undoubtedly the better side, their late goals a reward for showing great attacking enterprise, but one still can't help but thinking that the United manager may regret the decision to open up the game when his side were still largely in control.

7. Bayern Munich were able to defeat Manchester United in the home leg of their quarter final tie - whoda thunk it ay? I mean who would've thought that a team with four European Cups to their name and 21 Bundesliga titles, managed by a man who has won the Champions League would actually be quite decent? Not many in the British media, that's for certain. In the build up to the game you might have been forgiven for thinking that Manchester United were playing Crewe Alexandra, such was the disdain their opponents were being treated with. Is this a vintage Bayer side? No. Are Manchester United still favourites to go through? Yes. But there is other football out there that isn't the Premier League you know.

8. Miralem Pjanic might well be the best deliver of a ball into a box in this year's Champions League. The 20 year old Lyon midfielder is now the key creative fulcrum of a Lyon side that look well placed to reach their first ever Champions League semi final this season. For the past several years the French clubs playmaking responsibilities fell largely on the shoulders of Juninho Pernambucano but there are signs that the young Bosnian international has all the skills to replace the Brazilian who was a legend at the club. Whilst yet to be quite as prolific as the illustrious Juninho from free kicks, there is growing evidence that as time progresses he will be quite the consistent danger from dead ball situations, He's been in sensational form in this year's Champions League and could be just the difference in turning his club from perennial 'dark horses' to legitimate contenders.

9. What's Jose Mourinho's game? You'd think, given that we are now entering a critical period of the season for his Inter Milan team, with a Champions League quarter final against CSKA Moscow and just a one point lead at the top of Serie A that he would be doing all he could to keep people focused on the task at hand and pulling in the same direction. Not quite the period to come out with this; "I am very happy at Inter but not in Italian football...because I don't like it and it doesn't like me, simple."

Perhaps we should respect his honesty, but as ever with Mourinho you're inclined to think there is some hidden meaning. Some have speculated that this is a 'come and get me plea' to perspective employers in England where the Portuguese has made no secret of wanting to return. Others have interpreted it as a classic Mourinho tactic of trying to engineer the siege mentality of 'us against them' as his club enters a vital few weeks. Just maybe though, we are all guilty of reading too much into the fact that a guy who refers to himself as 'the special one' quite likes to have a lot of people talking about him...

10. One of the best things about this year's Champions League is how it has generally been a close competition with not much between the teams. Sure Barcelona look a cut above the rest, but even they don't look infallible. All the quarter finals still look finely balanced and it's been nice to have a couple of new names featuring in the latter stages. Some will be disappointed at the lack of the likes of Real Madrid, Liverpool, AC Milan and Chelsea in the latter stages but having the likes of Bordeaux and CSKA Moscow in the last eight brings far more variety, and whilst the top teams may have more weaknesses, this can only strengthen the overall vitality of the competition.

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