Countdown...

...to holidays! Can't believe it's almost time to go home again - to be precise, this Wednesday! =) But before that, the weekend's almost here and it's gonna be filled with 1) my final gig of the year 2) *obviously* some footie matches and 3) pow-wow-ing with some friends.

On Weds, there were good results from my teams with RM thumping Auxerre 4-0 and Bayern 3-0 vs Basel. Very relieved - but then I think it's mostly because they played without any stress/pressure AND the opposition was a bit weak. Didn't write about the RM match earlier because I only got to watch the replay last night. Overall, it was a good match but there were some bits of the match that was a bit *slow* (we were playing without Ozil and Di Maria) - but we looked much more steady in midfield but just lacking in the aesthetics department :P. With Ramos and Xabi "suspended" and Ozil/Di Maria rested in this match, we still managed to put out a very good team (CR7 played, obviously) and the team played very well, esp so for Benz! His 3rd goal for the night was sublime! Quick summary of what I thought about the players.

• GK (Dudek subbed by Adan): Both made some very good saves (Dudek got injured near halftime and had to be subbed)
• Back (Arbeloa, Carvalho, Albiol, Marcelo subbed by Garay): Not threatened much, think Carvalho was caught napping a few times. I don't like Albiol that much, he looked a bit rusty. The other 2 did fine. Marcelo, the dribbler as usual =). Garay came in for Marcelo with about 12 mins to go - this was my first time seeing him play (he was injured during preseason) but unfortunately, he didn't manage to show/do much in that short span of time.
• Mid (Lass, Granero, M. Diarra): L and D were really quite good at harassing/pressing - we need to do more of this! But their passes were a bit *off* at times. Granero (or Barn as I learnt from google translation - lol!) didn't impress me much last night - he was alright but maybe I expected a bit more from him (at least he didn't lose the ball much!!)
• Front (Leon, Benz, CR7 subbed by Sarabia): Leon was really quite good in the first half but got a bit quiet in second. He's really not bad at all but I can't quite seem to like him - maybe he was trying a wee bit too hard. Benz - defo MoTM - he actually tracked back quite a bit and looked quite sharp throughout the match. You know, he reminded me a lot of Berbatov - but younger, more talented and possibly with a much better finishing touch (read: See his 3rd goal!)!! I can understand why everyone goes on and on about how incredible he was at Lyon - and he definitely showed signs of some of his *old* brilliance during last night's game. However, it's still too soon to judge, esp against this relatively "weak" team: he needs to repeat this form in the next couple of games before I'm entirely convinced ;o). CR7 was his usual self - he didn't play that hard (quite obvious) but provided the first assist for Benz's header and then scored one for himself (brilliant goal again!). He was subbed off for Sarabia, an 18 year old Canterano, who definitely showed some good footwork and talent. I actually think this boy shows more promise than Canales - but then, whenever I've seen Canales come on the pitch, he either gets a yellow card or goes MIA. Not to mention that he's injured at the moment....

Verdict: Solid game against a team that is clearly not at the same level. There were areas that could be improved but good result at the end =)

So, looking at our squad and after seeing most of our fringe players playing, I'm still not sure how we can win the next Clasico (Warning: I think I'll keep going back to this issue until the day we beat 'em - so it might be years....). The players on the pitch on Weds were definitely better at pressing and I think that will be the key to win the match - basically we need destroyers in midfield. Unfortunately, our destroyers (Lass, M. Diarra) aren't quite the masters of attacking ala Ozil/CR7/Di Maria, and vice versa. So between now and April we'll need to do a LOT more pressing if we were to stand a chance. I'm also quite worried about the defence - we looked a bit leaky at the back...but I have much more faith in Arbeloa than Ramos. I've not seen Ramos play CB before, which he apparently does quite well - so maybe that may work better than the Carvalho/Pepe combo? To be honest, I'm really not too sure if our current line up will be sufficient to contain Barca's attack even in 5 month's time...ARGH. OK, it's Mou's problem, not mine (although we'll both be sharing the same misery...sheesh). So on to our next opponent - an away game to Zaragoza away this Sunday. On paper, this should be a walk in the park but I don't think we can afford to take any match for granted if we don't want to widen the gap with Barca (I'm assuming that Barca wins all their matches - which is not entirely impossible in my opinion!). But it should be a good match that I'm hoping to catch before rushing off to watch BFMV on Sunday night!

I'm gonna quickly comment on Bayern's game this week - man, they've disappointed me too much lately - and we're playing St Pauli tomorrow so if we don't win, I really have nothing left to say. Oh and Gomez (ugh how I dislike him) is injured - so we have NO STRIKERS!!!! Great, isn't it? Luckily we are through to the KO round for UCL.... the word around is we're gonna bin the Bundesliga and concentrate on winning the UCL. LvG better think of ways to stop Barca NOW if he's serious about it... Anyway back to the match, a repeat is gonna be televised at 615am on Sunday so I'd better make sure I record it so that I can watch the repeat later... Its also rumoured that Muller is gonna be positioned up front - I'm sure he won't do ANY worse than Gomez, trust me =.="

AND the final and probably most potentially excruciatingly painful match is on Monday (I HATE Monday matches, I really really do!): MU vs Arse. I hate Arsene Wenger - always have and I guess, always will. BUT saying that, I think they have a very good team and that he is a very, very good manager. I still hate him though and I really can't bear to lose to them. Esp at home. Maybe it's their whole "we're so good that we can step up a gear as and when we want and we nearly beat Barcelona last year without our key players" mentality that REALLY irritates me, esp after qualifying SECOND in their group in the UCL. Nonetheless, the game will be a very good watch - they're no where as good as Barca so I don't think MU is gonna be whitewashed 5-0 (man, it STILL hurts) - or at least, I think I will be more prepared to accept that result if it actually happens. Nothing in the world (only in footie land terms, obviously) stung as badly as that. So, bring it on!!

*Listening to Look Away by Thousand Foot Krutch*