Favourite football crowd scene

After a particularly bad mistake by the goalie!

Clayton Park Bakery

Pie-makers to Blackburn Rovers.

http://www.pietastic.com/

Even got a picture on their website with Sam and a tray of pies. He looks like he's already scoffed a couple of tray-loads! (Hardly original, I know, but true all the same.) The thin guy on Sam's left looks well miffed - he obviously didn't get a look in.

Update: Just checked their website and they also supply pies to Everton. Unbelievable - see previous post re. Everton away.

The dentist & Barcelona v. Real Madrid

Was at the dentist on Monday and he had Talk Sport on the radio. They were previewing the upcoming match between Barcelona and Real Madrid (which turned out to be a great game to watch). They were speculating how Barcelona or Real Madrid would fair in the Premier League and how Chelsea and ManU would do in La Liga. What they didn’t talk about was refereeing and their interpretation of the rules. I certainly think Barcelona and Real Madrid would struggle to dominate in the Premier League with English referees who allow a more physical game and tend to warn players rather than book them immediately for physical transgressions. There was a raft of bookings in the Barcelona/Real Madrid match, many of which would not have been seen as such in England. But such an environment encourages skilful play and minimises the impact of those with a ‘good engine’ which, generally, is code for no skill, runs around a lot and can kick people.

Whilst on referees – the commentators on the Spurs and Liverpool match were discussing the apparent difference in the application of the laws of the game with regard to incidents in the penalty area. Atkinson failed to give a penalty when Assou-Etc’s follow-through on Kuyt upended him but booked Johnson for a similar situation with Bale near the half-way line. Atkinson was also the official in last night’s Carling Cup encounter and allowed a similar challenge/assault on Theo to go unpunished – it was in the penalty area, of course.

One of the fundamental problems in English football is the standard of refereeing and their collusion in the ‘good old English way of playing’ that minimises skill. This is one reason why England is never truly successful in the Euros or World Cups.

Aston Villa

Not at this one unfortunately so watched on Sky. Another match where Arsenal nearly threw it away, exhibiting incredibly unprofessional nervousness but came good in the end.

Overall, Arsenal played at a good tempo, creating chances, taking shots and forcing Friedel into saves. The absence of Fabregas had no impact - in fact, it was a positive as the tempo was not deliberately and unnecessarily slowed. In the first half, Rosicky was generally the most forward of the central midfielders as Arsenal played the usual 4-2-3-1. In the second. Rosicky moved to the left with Arshavin, having his best game for a long while, relishing his central, more free role. Ok, he could pass more but his overall contribution both offensively and defensively is higher when he plays centrally. Rosicky is also more professional, in that, even when he is playing wide, he generally tracks back and does his defensive duties.

Try and see Villa's first goal if you can. Carew, having writhed in the box, gets up and staggers on the 6 yard line directly in line between the shooting Villa player and Fabianski. He was in an offside position but was he interfering with play/seeking to gain an advantage? Ref didn't think so but he didn't think it was a goal when a Spurs shot crossed the line by a metre a few seasons ago.

Finally, just on Spurs - apparently Van der Vaart said 'Hands up if you want to join Barcelona' just before that fateful free-kick last week. Check the YouTube clips, you can quite clearly see him saying it. Unbelievable!

Guardian Football Podcast

A great comment on the podcast about Chelsea's match against Birmingham - that was the worst Chelsea performance since they were founded in 2003!

Braga

Another frustrating performance replete with a lack of leadership, passion or desire. NB52 given his chance in the starting line only starts to make any movement in the box when he's about to be substituted. Theo - some marvellous runs that took him "out" of space, i.e., the opposite of running into space. Poor defending for their first and even worse for their second - 1 attacker, 3 defenders yet none can get a tackle in. For all Arsenal's possession, I thought they were actually quite boring to watch - no penetration, so difficult to see where a goal is going to come from.

Spurs

2-0 and we ****ed it up - nuff said. Reasonably balanced match report on zonalmarking.net.

With Chelsea losing, I see this as an opportunity missed rather than seeing Chelsea's defeat meaning we stay in touch (though, of course, this is true).

I still think we lack tempo in the play and lack belief. Defensively we were unbelievably poorly organised at times - both full-backs seem to forget the basics.