Super Footy weekend!!!

This is one hell of a weekend (in fact a great month too with lot of derbies - Boca-River, Milan-Inter, Madrid-Barca) with some quality clashes in La Liga, Serie-A.

There is of course the super classico between Real Madrid and Barcelona at Bernabeu on 23 OCt.
This should be an interesting match.
Madrid are in the process of rebuilding squad and seem to have problems in all departments. The main problem for the Merengues is that they lack creativity in Central Midfield. Guti, I guess, is a temporary replacement for Zizou and would be looking forward to the Jan transfer window to buy Gago (currently with Boca Juniors). Reyes will definitely start and shd trouble the Barca LB - Gio van Bronhorst. It will also be interesting if Capello gives Robinho a start as he has been pheonemenal this season wearing the Selecao shirt and played brilliantly in the recent CL fixture.

Barca, of course, are oozing with confidence and shd definitely go as the favourites for this encounter.

I wouldnt be surprised if Capello decides to play on the counter and allow Barca to dominate the midfield. Sevilla and Chelsea have had decent successes using this system against Barca.

The other games worth mentioning are

Deportivo vs Athletico Madrid.

This shd be an interesting encounter as just 2 points seperate these 2 teams. I guess this is a home game for Depor.
It will be interesting to see whether Javier Aguirre (coach of Athleti) starts with Kun Aguero (18 yr old Argentine wonder-kid)considering that Martin Petrov (the right attacking midfielder) is injured and out for at least 2 months.
I am not a big fan of Athleti as they seem to have a very direct approach-feed the ball in the flanks and somehow get it into the first third of the field. They do not seem to possess a true playmaker.

AC Milan vs Palermo

This match shd be a cracker. Palermo are currently third in Serie-A. They play a very attacking game and unlike other newbies (Palermo got recently promoted) do not sit on a 1-0 lead and play on the break. Palermo has been involved in some cracking high scoring matches this season. Milan, on the other hand, have plenty of problems. In particular, their strikers are woefully out of form. Their defense also seem to be very fragile and Sampdoria were deadly (last weekend) on the counter attack. They also lacked creativity in the midfield in the absence of Pirlo. I thought that Milan were lucky to get a point last weekend. However, Pirlo shd be back for this encounter and will provide those wonderful quality balls to the likes of Kaka etal. They were missing Pirlo badly in the Samp encounter (he got injured).


I guess there is the ManU-Liverpool game (I am not sure as I am not a big fan of EPL) this weekend.


Champions League Round Up

I thought that the Barca-Chelsea encounter was a very boring game. Boulharouz (I hope the spelling is correct) played very well. I just liked the way he defended - closed in on Dinho quickly and did not allow him to cut-inside even in the half-line!!!. It is also worth mentioning the tactics used by Mourinho. Chelsea, actually, did not allow any space in the midfield and were content chasing the ball. They did not defend deep and constantly pressured the Barca midfield. This was very surprising as Chelsea had 2 attacking midfielders (Ballack and Lampard) to create chances but they were content at giving the possession to Barca. In fact, Lampard was helping Ashley Cole in the left midfield!!.
I loved the way Leo got the better of Ashley Cole (one of the best LB's around). The secret in the flanks is always whether the right/left midfielder (or sometimes the winger) will cut inside or run down the flanks and cross. Leo used his low center of gravity to good effect and Cole was caught totally out of position a couple of times.
Chelsea did not defend deep in their own half. Barca, of course, had a very poor game in all departments.
I hope Werder Bremen (a very attacking team) spices up this group!!!

I missed the Arsenal-CSKA Moscow game. I heard that Dudu Cesarense (Brazilian play-maker) had a wonderful game and put in a flawless display.