More Than A Club...

Photo: http://picasaweb.google.com/facetani

Just under a week ago Barcelona won their sixth trophy of 2009 by winning the World Club Championship against Argentinian side Estudiantes.

The Spanish side claimed La Liga, the Copa del rey, The Champions League, The Spanish Super Cup and the European Super Cup before the most recent win which has led me to decide that this Barcelona side is probably the best team of my generation so far.

There's a number of reasons for this and it isn't just down to the fact that they have won 6 titles in 2009 (although that is a very important factor in my decision!) I always judge a European side on how well they have done against English opposition, mainly because that is where I know most of my football knowledge and what I watch more often. Barcelona beat Chelsea on route to the Champions League Final where they beat and outplayed Manchester United. So in order to be crowned the best in Europe they had to beat two of the best (if not the best) teams in England. So clearly they have produced the goods when playing English opposition.

The second factor is that they have repeatedly impressed and won in all competitions they have played in. A very impressive feat showing their squad depth, teamwork, fitness, and all around ability to consistently perform throughout every competition they have been involved in. The array of talent on show every week at the Camp Nou is very impressive with the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Henry, Ibrahimovic, Pique, Alves and of Messi on show. This side has beaten sides across the globes, across all the competitions under young coach Pep Guardiola, another aspect I like about this side is that they have a young coach who seems to know his stuff!

This leads me on to my next point. The players that currently ply their trade for the Catalan giants really are special. The partnership between midfield duo Xavi and Iniesta is a testament to the clubs academy system as both came through the famous Barcelona academy learning to play the Barcelona way. This coupled with strikers such as Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the latter having joined over the summer, give them that vital edge in the attacking third and with the recently crowned World Player of the Year Lionel Messi (also winner of the Ballon d'Or) also in that third you have a force not to be reckoned with.

Fittingly, it was Messi who scored the winning goal in extra time to crown his side the World Club Champions. Barcelona clearly are, as the club motto reads, Mes Que Un Club.

Apologies!

Apologies for the lack of Blog activity over the last week or so. I went to Prague and had Christmas etc! There'll be a few blogs going up over the next few days to make up for it!

Merry Christmas :)

Making it Easy for United isn't Really Necessary?!

Photo: TGIGreeny's

As anyone who has read a newspaper this morning will know, last night witnessed Mick McCarthy's Wolves team make ten first team changes to face Manchester United at Old Trafford. This strikes me as pretty crazy - we are talking about Manchester United aren't we? Last season's Premier League champions and runners up in the Champions League?

From last night's starting eleven, only goalkeeper Marcus Hanhnemann retained his place from the side who played Tottenham at the weekend, whilst players such as George Friend were given Premier League debuts. McCarthy's reason was that he wanted to "protected his players from injury" after their hard fought 1-0 win over Spurs. Wolves haven't picked up many points this season, but the win on Saturday marked their second win on the bounce, their best form of the season so far. So surely the best team morale to take to Old Trafford?

I can understand rotating his squad and keeping players fresh for the big matches that they have coming up, notably against Burnley on Sunday. But when the travelling Wolves fans pay £42 for a ticket and travel up to Manchester on a bitterly cold night, surely they deserve better? Let's not forget that last night represented a good chance for Wolves to have a decent go at the champions considering their current injury crisis and form? It's almost as if McCarthy had admitted defeat before kick off, instead United strolled home to a 3-0 victory.

I realise that some players would be tired, but all in all they are professional footballers, highly tuned athletic machines, three matches in a week shouldn't be too much of an issue. The Premier League is never going to be easy, but perhaps if the Wolves first eleven can't cope with the playing schedule, then there's something wrong with their training regime?

It's important that the Premier League doesn't become like the FA Cup or League Cup where several managers rotate their squads for the sake of keeping their players fresh for league matches. As I found out from the Reuters Soccer Blog, there is actually a rule against fielding weakened teams. "Premier League rule E20 states that clubs are required to field full-strength sides in every match", clearly this didn't happen last night.

The quality of league deserves better than that. It's going to be interesting to see what Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger and Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti think of McCarthy's early Christmas present to Manchester United.