Category Archives: la liga

conclusive evidence

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we really don’t know how lucky we all are yet. it may be too early for most to even recognize the significance of the result of saturday’s champions league final between manchester united and f.c. barcelona.

wembley stadium before the 2011 champions league final

something big was determined at wembley on saturday, and it was bigger than just determining the european champions.

many of the debates that rage within the game are purely philosophical in nature. who is better: messi or ronaldo? is joey barton crazy? should there be homegrown player quotas? what’s more important: your club or your country? we can all offer our opinions, but no definitive answers can be drawn from those questions. and we can’t really answer any of those questions because there is no right answer to any of those questions. well, except that it is fact that joey barton is certifiably insane.

so what made saturday night’s champions league final so special that many can’t even realize it’s importance? perhaps it’s because the match actually answered one of those hypothetical questions for us. namely, who has been the best team of this era? (i am not even going to attempt to tackle the “best team ever” question. it is definitely not answerable.)

what gives this game the right to answer a supposedly unanswerable question? let’s start with a few obvious qualifications.

this final was a match up between the two most dominant clubs in europe over the last decade. it was united’s third champions league final in the last five years, and barça’s third in the last seven. domestically, both are staggeringly dominant. and since la liga and the premier league have been the undisputed best two leagues in europe during this time frame, it’s even easier to call them both the best when barça have won five and united have won six of the last ten titles in their respective leagues. together, they’ve won four of the last seven european championships, and it would have been five of the last seven if inter hadn’t found a way to sneak past the catalonians in last year’s semifinal.

now i know i haven’t been the biggest barcelona supporter in this space. in fact, i’ve been outright harsh on them. but regardless of my complaints about them (mainly the excessive and unneeded diving), i’ve always said that they’re the team to beat. and when they’re running on full cylinders, as they clearly were on saturday evening, they’re impossible to beat. i’ll never claim otherwise.

and while we’ve questioned united’s credentials all season, they proved to be nearly unbeatable themselves in the end. despite an AWOL rooney at the beginning of the campaign, a major injury to valencia, an aging squad and the looming retirement of van der sar, they ended up on the top of the heap in england again this season. champions for a record 19th time. so let’s give credit where credit is due: it took a historically amazing barcelona side to knock down champions of this calibre. so…

top tier clubs: check

messi splits giggs and carrick in the champions league final

another brilliant messi performance might have helped to cement barça's place in history.

the wembley final also had some other key ingredients to answer a question such as which is the best team of this generation. messi, almost unarguably the best player on the planet, logged another inspired performance in a big match. and while much of the spotlight was on the tiny 2-time defending world player of the year, let us not forget that he also had the help of the first and second runners up to the 2010 prize. none of the triumvirate let us down, as all performed breathtakingly.

on the other side of the ball, you saw england’s most mercurial striker in rooney finally make his presence felt on the biggest stage. admittedly though, expectations proved to heavy for the legendary ryan giggs and up-and-comer javier hernandez. either way…

top tier players: check.

additionally, two of the three best managers in the world were on the benches at wembley stadium. on one side of the ring you have the seasoned and legendary sir alex ferguson (12 premier league titles, two european cups, five FA cups). on the other, the young hotshot pep guardiola (3 la liga titles, and now two european cups).

top tier managers: check.

another thing that made this such a key, question-answering event: the american sports audience finally paid attention to the champions league final. people at work were asking me about the match, wanting to know what makes that “zavi” guy so good. hell, the american castle of conservativism, fox, decided broadcasting a proper football match live on their flagship network for the first time was worth the risk of exposing their fans to socialism.

aiding the hype was the massive amount of “support” both teams have stateside. barça is today’s bandwagoned side of the moment, while the mancs held that spot for much of the late 90′s and early noughties. who those american fans support at the moment is clearly visible in my not so scientific pole on the WSOTP facebook page from a few weeks back to see who everyone thought would win the match:

of the 40 responses received on the WSOT facebook page, only 9 selected the mancunians to win.

(tangent warning: while both clubs have certainly earned their followings, the size of their supporters might be ballooned by the fact that most american fans aren’t able to name another team besides united or barcelona. i’d be willing to wager that only one in five yanks that identify themselves as united fans would know anything about the bubsy babes. likewise with american barça fans, i’m sure the mention of “cruyff” would result in nothing but looks of confusion. end tangent)

and as expected, the media firestorm before the final was priming the question to be answered. it seemed like everyone was ready to crown this barcelona side as the best in history (an insanely more difficult question to answer than to name one for just an era) before the match was over. and that means…

top tier interest: check.

so with the world’s best clubs, players, managers and a massive wave of interest behind it, the table was adequately set to decide who was truly the best side of this era.

let’s be honest though. it would have taken a massive victory by manchester united to get any of the punditry to hand them the title of “era’s best”. this isn’t the best squad that united have fielded under sir alex (the 1999 treble winners probably were), and the red devils would have had to turn in an epic like an 8-0 win to sway anyone into believing the title of the era’s best belongs to in manchester.

but lucky we were again, as barcelona emphatic victory made it all the more easy for us to hand them the crown instead.

statistically, the blaugrana were so dominant that it made any chance of a united payback victory impossible:

  • 68% possesion to united’s 32%.
  • 22 shots to united’s 4, 12 and 1 on frame respectively.
  • 6 corners to united’s 0.
  • 719 completed passes to united’s 301.

unusually for me though, it wasn’t the statistics that really drove home the point. instead, it was the way that barcelona won the match: they did it without all of the theatrics.

gone were the ridiculous antics that plagued their semifinal match ups with real madrid, and instead we were left with solely the beautiful game that this team is always lauded for. in fact the only time i even saw busquets grab his face is when he was actually hit in it. it’s just that  i feel much better about deeming a team worthy to be called the best of an era when i don’t think they earned it by any form of cheating. and beat united they did without it.

simply put, barcelona beat the other best team in europe with style, skill and class. my highly unscientific facebook poll showed that most of us expected that outcome, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t all get more than we expected.

barça proved themselves again, and thanks to it, have written themselves a special chapter in the history of football. and as many generations go by without the opportunity to say that they had watched a truly dominant side. what’s becoming ever more apparent, though, is that saturday… we did.

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wrong side XI: center back (libero)

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this is part V in the “wrong side XI” series, where i’ll be selecting my very own starting eleven, assuming of course that i could choose any player from any team in the world. you can read the rules i’ll be following to make my team selection, and what formation i’ll be squeezing them into, on the first post in the series.

david luiz, per mertesacker, thiago silva, daniel agger and thomas vermaelen

the libero: the defenders who can't quite give up their aspirations to be offensive stars.

Once upon a time, in between stints of playing in my favored left back spot, I often took up residence as a centerback. I was never particularly fond of it, much because playing the position made me feel like i had a leash around my neck that was tied to the penalty box. But as often as possible, I would break my invisible chain and make forays into the attack. Much to the chagrin of my coach, of course.

And though I didn’t know it at the time, the style with which I played the position actually had a name: libero. When I first learned that factoid, the defensive volleyball position of the same name came to mind. And for those familiar with both sports, it’s a perfect description for this type of player: a player who defense starts the offense. However, let’s also keep in mind what I wrote in the first post about this position:

“the more offensive oriented back will be free to occasionally make a run into the attack”

Generally though, these occasional flights into the offensive half should coincide with the launch of counter attacks. That’s not to say that the libero can’t join in an offensive passing movement from time to time, but his primary concern regardless of how the attack is flowing is to make sure if he goes forward that someone is stepping in to plug his hole (quit laughing).

Defensively, the role of the libero and the normal center back is practically indistinguishable. Organize the defense, keep an eye on the striker(s) and prevent the other team from scoring. Simple as pie, right?

Surprisingly, what I came to find when it was time to decide who would be considered for my libero spot, is that there really aren’t that many players that are solely classified as liberos. Everyone is just classified as center backs, center halves, or sweepers. Ultimately, that means that I have the freedom to go out and choose whomever I want, because no one is really classified as one.

So who did I classify as a libero? Read on my friends…

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round up #33

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diego forlán of atlético madrid

the form of former tottenham target diego forlán has fallen off steeply; harry’s wheeling and dealing sensors must be tingling.

I admit that I’m really trying to steer clear of transfer rumors stories in my latest Round-Up and TWOL posts, mainly because I’ll need something to write for the rest of the summer. That said, there are some stories below that do mention the possibilities of transfers, so don’t skewer me when you come across it.

As we enter the final weekend of matches in the 2010-2011 Premier League season, it’s all pins and needles for no less than five clubs at the foot of the table, and Tottenham have a chance to keep a tiny trickle of European relevancy running through White Hart Lane. So needless to say, I’m on pins and needles a bit too.

So moving along to today’s round-up, we’ll start off on this side of the pond…

The New York Cosmos take to the field this summer – totalfootballblog.com
And so it begins. Even though the “Zombie Cosmos” will begin their climb up the American professional soccer ladder at the lowest rung, the u-23 Premier Development League (PDL), I think it’s fantastic first step for an organization trying to earn what’s likely to be the 20th and last MLS franchise. This will give the club a great avenue for continuing to identify talent from their already established youth academy, a major pillar of the club’s philosophy.

The author of this article did fail to mention one of the other major benefits that this news will provide for the cosmos: a revenue stream. Aside from the revenue that have been generated by the club’s bad ass Umbro apparel, they really didn’t have another major source of income. By fielding a PDL side, it allows the club to charge fans to come and watch potential future Cosmos stars and pour some money into their coughers. It’s not a cheap to fund a campaign to join MLS, and the club is going to need some source of income to help them reach their eventual goal.

A perfect transition from the States back to Europe, a story about a player that used to play on this side of the pond:

Rohan Ricketts’ Moldovan nightmare – column10.com
With the big dogs in Europe trying to right their financial ships before UEFA’s financial fair play rules come into effect (well, some of them aren’t), it’s a little bemusing that UEFA don’t seem to be taking much interest in how finances are playing out in the lower tiers of the European football too. For example, consider this linked article about former Arsenal, Tottenham, Wolves, Barnsley, and Toronto FC winger Rohan Ricketts.

While ricketts is a textbook journeyman footballer, crisscrossing the glob in search of glory/paychecks, the hardships he’s endured at Moldovan side Dacia Chişinău are a far cry from what any professional should expect. While the big clubs are always getting the headlines about the dirty tricks their owners play when trying to screw over players, little clubs are often times just as guilty, if not worse. The problem is without the financial gain of European competition to hold over their heads, the smaller clubs often go unpunished for such actions.

Though to be fair, Ricketts probably should have assumed that something retarded would go down when signing up for squad in Moldova.

Speaking of a player that should have made a move elsewhere last transfer window…

Forlán’s relationship with Atlético seems damaged beyond repair – si.com
Football is a rollercoaster, ain’t it? I’m sure if you were to ask Diego Forlán that question, the Uruguayan would probably agree right about now. Last summer he was named the best player at the World Cup, fresh after winning the European golden boot for Atlético Madrid. Now, just nine months after Los Rojiblancos were demanding £20 million for the 30-year-old striker, they appear to be trying to give him away.

The article states that Forlán’s difficult personality has strained his relationship with Atlético’s likely-to-be-departing manager Quique Sánchez Flores. But I do wonder if that’s really enough to have forced him out of a mid-table starting XI despite being in the running for the Ballon d’Or just a few months ago. Maybe Diego is trying to engineer a move away from the capital club because they wouldn’t let him leave last summer? All I can say is that with the kind of season that he’s had, I’m really glad Harry Redknapp didn’t convince Levy to dump a ton of money into some empty Spanish bank account for his services.

I hope you’re not afraid of being spied on if you like to attend sporting events…

Wembley 360 – thesun.co.uk
I’m going to go out on a limb and make the assumption that you have yet to see every single person who attended the FA cup final between Manchester City and Stoke City this past weekend, nor am I guessing that you actually wanted to. But in the off-chance that you do want to see that, thanks to big brother The Sun, you can now look at and Facebook tag every single person sitting in England’s hallowed national stadium at somewhere between the 19:52 and 21:27 marks of the match.

While I can see the appeal of such a unique feature — and also impressed by the technology the oft-dubious tabloid used — I’m not convinced that I actually like the idea of a high-def stadium wide panoramic. It comes off as extremely Orwellian, especially with the paper imploring it’s readers to self-identify themselves and rat out their friends. Wembley 360 tastes of invasion of privacy. I mean, tell me there weren’t some blokes there playing hookie from work to go watch the Final. Now they’ve been made by the sun‘s all-seeing eye. Not cool.

Sometimes clubs need all-knowing presence floating behind the scenes to make things tick.

zidane still involved at real madrid

zizou is often greasing the wheels behind the scenes in madrid.

Real Madrid still benefiting from Zinedine Zidane’s presence. – si.com
Not sure how I missed this from about a month back, but this piece does an excellent job of answering a question I’ve been contemplating for a while: what exactly does Zizou do at Real Madrid? Author Ben Lyttleton paints an excellent picture of Zidane’s role at his former club, where he’s serving as the club’s “special advisor to the president and first team”… quite the title.

Not only does it explain that the French legend takes time to work with the players and provide welcomed insight from Mourinho, but he also smooths over the political rifts within the club (Ex: Valdano vs. Mourinho) and is in tight with the president too. In a nutshell, he’s the glue that keeps the modern Real held together. Until he head butts Ronaldo.

ten words or less #25

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a linesman smoking

linesman in the norwegian 5th division can multi-task.

Wow, we’ve already reached the quarter century mark for the Ten Words or Less series? What a momentous occasion.

I thought about doing some sort of theme for this special milestone post — only links to video of players tripping during training, links to pictures of footballers eating with their families, etc. — but it turns out that such a task would be a lot more work than I’m usually willing to devote posts that are supposed to be “short and easy.”

So basically, I’m saying you that you need to thank me for sparing you a stupid post. Because this one isn’t one.

Barcelona’s La Masia training video? – youtube.com

How do you not love the Timbers fanbase? – brentdiskin.com

“If all shots off the bars had gone in” table. – whoateallthepies.tv

Well no wonder he finally put one in. – reddit.com/user/yflmd

Find out if you make more than any MLS player. – mlsplayers.com

Harsh those Blackpool fans are. – thespoiler.co.uk

Reality checks feel like a stomach punch. – afootballreport.com

Calm down Noel Gallagher. We all hate Gary Neville. – kickette.com

wrong side XI: right back

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this is part IV in the “wrong side XI” series, where i’ll be selecting my very own starting eleven, assuming of course that i could choose any player from any team in the world. you can read the rules i’ll be following to make my team selection, and what formation i’ll be squeezing them into, on the first post in the series.

best XI right back: rafael, sergio ramos, dani alves, maicon and lahm

rafael, sergio ramos, dani alves, maicon and lahm do battle for my starting right back slot.

Welcome back to the very exciting selection of my imaginary team! In today’s part IV of the wrong side XI series, we’ll be picking the back on right flank.

If you read my last post, you got to hear all about my love for my favorite position, left back. And though today’s position is essentially the exact same position, my afinity for it is not near as high. Maybe it’s because I’m left footed, maybe it’s because I rarely played there growing up (though as i’ve played it more, I do enjoy getting to cut inside to my left). But I just don’t feel the same way that I do about right back as I do with it’s left sided counterpart.

Regardless, picking a right back wasn’t actually a very difficult task. Strategically, I’m looking for the same type of player that would play on the left. He will need to be an attacking style wing back, who will get forward and provide offensive support and service, as well as being able to shut down the other team’s offensive threats. So, lucky me, there’s no need to go into specifics again.

So perhaps we should get into it, right? And just as a preliminary F.Y.I.: Alan Hutton will definitively not be allowed within 30 feet of this list.

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ten words or less #24

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alejandro faurlin and neil warnock celebrate QPR's possible promotion.

perhaps faurlin (left) and QPR won't be enjoying the spoils of the premier league next season

the steam is running out of my team’s, and it’s seriously impacting my interest in the rest of the their respective seasons. real madrid are (deservingly) eliminated from europe. tottenham are (predictably) pissing away their season of “living the dream.” it’s hard as a fan of both clubs to watch on with both having very little left to play for besides pride (although if tottenham lose out on the europa league to liverpool, i might suffer an aneurysm).

forgive me my tears, for i am only human.

so as we prepare for a weekend full of title and relegation-deciding matches, here’s a quick round-up of some interesting reads from around the world of football.

no, no, no, no, no. screw clattenburg. – dirty tackle @ yahoo.com

someone should not get paid for this. - designfootball.com

it pains me to post, but another artistic masterpiece. – youtube.com

this is a huge step forward for MLS. – soccerbyives.com

how the hell did the ball move like that?!?! - sportpost.com

have to admit, i’m a little envious of this guy. – soccerbible.com

busquets is a disgrace: more evidence. – youtube.com

QPR are all smiles now; maybe they shouldn’t be. – qprnet.com

wrong side XI: left back

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this is part III in the “wrong side XI” series, where i’ll be selecting my very own starting eleven, assuming of course that i could choose any player from any team in the world. you can read the rules i’ll be following to make my team selection, and what formation i’ll be squeezing them into, on the first post in the series.

benoit assou-ekotto of tottenham, patrice evra of manchester united, marcelo of real madrid, ashley cole of chelsea, gareth bale of tottenham

which one of these fine defenders will receive the honor of making my squad?

Regardless of whether you want to call the spot a left “wingback”, “full back”, or the rarely-used-on-this-side-of-the-pond “outside half”, I love this position more than any other.

Of course, that may have less to do with my mastery of the position, but more to do with the old adage of “put your worst player at the place they’re least likely to hurt you.” (I might have just fabricated that adage, but it seems like something my youth team coaches would have done.)

Whatever the reason, left back is by and far away my favorite position to play on the field. A big portion of why I even chose the 4-5-1 as my formation for this imaginary team is to allow the backs to play as I like to play, getting into the attack down the wings. The choice to go with two defensive center mids instead of just one gives them even more freedom to move forward, as a the extra man in the midfield can always provide quick cover.

So as you might expect, the players that I considered for this spot must have a good attacking acumen, particularly with taking on players and being able to serve a good ball in from the flank. But let’s not ignore the fact that this is a defensive position, and that it’s primary responsibility is still to neutralize the opponents attacking threats down the wings. In short, this player must be able to attack and defend at a world class level. Slouches need not apply.

So who was considered and who made the grade?

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something needs to be done about barcelona

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the first leg of the el clásico champions league semifinal should have been one of the most epic football matches of all time.

barcelona surround the referee to try and sway his decision

this really needs to stop.

in terms of sheer talent on the pitch at one time, the champions league has probably never seen so much: the two best players, (arguably) the two best teams, and the two of the best three managers in the world (can’t ignore fergie). monetarily, only 9 of the 22 players that started the match are not among the 100 highest paid footballers in the world. the match up between madrid and barcelona is one the most heated rivalries in all of sports, between two of the most storied clubs in all of football. a clash of the titans if you will.

unfortunately, we didn’t get what we all had hoped.

everyone will be saying that the biggest problem in the game was with the way real played. “anti-football” they call it. but it wasn’t. if anyone expected to see a free-flowing spectacle of a match with loads of attacking, well, they’re just stupid.

we were already given two sneak peaks as to how these champions league fixtures would play out. the first example came in the relatively calm league encounter, where neither manager wanted to expose their plans for the matches to come. the second and more revealing sign of things to come came in the copa del rey final. with a trophy on the line, we got to see mourinho’s so-called “anti-football” finally neutralize barcelona’s “total football.”

it may just be me, but how could anyone expect a mourinho-lead team to not play a suffocating/stifling defensive strategy against barcelona? he did the exact same thing when facing the the catalonians while at the hemls of chelsea and internazionale.

at the midway point of last night’s match, the commentators during the halftime shows universally complained about how los merengues weren’t “playing the game” and were “raping and murdering football” (i might have made that last one up, but the point was still being made). really?

look, nobody is going to beat barcelona playing their game. you can’t just go out and buy players and get them to play confidence crushing tiki-taka the way barça do, mainly because it takes years of playing together to develop that cohesion and positional awareness within a side. arsenal play the most similar style, yet they couldn’t even hold a candle to the blaugrana in the first knockout round.

mourinho, however, is the only one who has been able to crack the catalonian code. sure it’s ugly, boring, defensive, and anti-footballish at times. but it can work against barcelona, and that’s why madrid hired him. i don’t think you’ll hear any inter fans or board members angry with mourinho for playing ugly soccer; they’re all too busy trying to drink from their champions league trophy.

(and if i’m being completely honest here, barcelona’s tiki-taka system can produce some pretty big snoozers too. they have so much possession of the ball, particularly after they score, that the game often becomes pointless to watch. it’s the same thing as watching a blowout in basketball: after a while, it’s just not that fun to the neutral viewer.)

so to all of the pundits and fans out there decrying mourinho’s tactics, take a hike. what would you rather barça’s opponents do:  roll over and concede the games before their played? get out of here. that would kill the game.

all that said, the media do seem to be ignoring a rather large part of the barça persona, and it is, in my opinion, a hugely troublesome issue.

sergio busquets peeks through his hands, looking to see if he earned inter a card.

hey. busquets. we see what you're up to.

barcelona’s incredible dominance of, brilliance in, and flag bearing for the beautiful game has rightly earned them a massive, worldwide following. the effect of their rise to the appex of the sport will be felt for years to come, as a million future little messis, xavis and piques are being heavily influenced by their style of play and club ethos. unfortunately though, they’re not all learning good habits.

what the media is largely ignoring, and i’m taking such an issue with, is that barça are a completely ethically horrible team. they dive, simulate, bitch, moan and harass more than any other side in the world. instead, they pay loads of attention to how mourinho thinks there’s a referee conspiracy, real madrid play anti-football, or collectively kissing barcelona’s blue and red striped ass.

fifa have made it pretty clear lately that they intend to eliminate diving from the game. yet, the crown jewel in the club game’s stable regularly employs some of the most ridiculous divers out there (ronaldo/nani/ibrahimovic aside). pedro, sergio busquets, dani alves were all at the top of their simulation game during yesterday’s el clásico. and the trio, along with regular offenders like david villa and mascherano, have been using these dirty little tricks for quite some time. especially busquets.

on top of that, anytime there is a decision that could go against one of their opponents, their entire team crowds around the referee. you’ll see them there, pleading with and pressuring the official to give their foes the yellow/red card they so “rightfully” deserve. isn’t this something the governing bodies were trying to rid the game of, as well?

so not only are barcelona’s players actively trying to earn the opposition cards by simulating non-existent fouls, but they follow that up by pressuring the referee to give a card for a foul that never happened.

sergio busquets simulating a foul

not only is this unacceptable, but barcelona don't even need to do it.

why are they doing this?!?!  this is a team that doesn’t need to cheat to win. they’re already good enough to beat everyone fair and square.

and while their style of play does seem to “invite” the other team to foul (either through frustration of never having possession, getting rough with their own tackles, or by releasing the ball just as the other player is about to tackle), it’s not an excuse to fake a foul that they thought would happen.

not that i can prove otherwise, but if this is tactical directive from guardiola, i’ve lost a lot of respect for him. when mourinho says things like the following, it makes you a little more suspect:

let’s hope he gets the chance to win a clean champions league, without scandals.

what fifa, uefa, and the media don’t see is that, by ignoring this issue, they are only undermining their efforts to clean up the game. if a million child/teenage barcelona  fans that were watching the game learned anything from yesterday’s match, it’s that they can earn the other team a card if they only make the effort. try to fake a foul. try to pressure the referee. try to cheat. the effects of these lessons will continue to ripple through the world of soccer just as long as all of the positive things that the blaugrana bring to the game.

you’ll never be able to rid your sport of it’s evils if you allow it’s greatest spokesman to be it’s biggest cheat.

wrong side XI: goalkeeper

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this is part II in the “wrong side XI” series, where i’ll be selecting my very own starting eleven, assuming of course that i could choose any player from any team in the world. you can read the rules i’ll be following to make my team selection, and what formation i’ll be squeezing them into, on the first post in the series.

reina, casillas, hart, lloris and howard all make my shortlist.

There was a position that I didn’t address in my first post, but let’s be honest… it’s the only position on the pitch that is never really affected by formation changes. I’m talking about the man at the back guarding the sticks: the goalkeeper.

When I first started the project of picking my first XI, I thought that picking a goalkeeper would be one of the hardest spots in my line up to fill.  It’s not like picking for your marking backs, where if you like two players about the same, you can pretty much start them both. After all, only one keeper plays at a time.

On top of the difficult task of selecting a single man to fill this spot, you also have to be cognizant of the reliability and mental strength of the player you end up selecting. Keepers face monumental amounts of pressure, often facing complete blame for conceded goals that should rightly be blamed on the poor defending in front of them. And while everyone makes mistakes from time to time (england will forgive you, Robert Green), your goalie should be able to bounce back from his mistakes and learn from them.

So who makes the cut? Listed below are the candidates that i considered to fill my number one.

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the inevitable is there

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“they’ve done well, but the inevitable is there,” said ray wilkins during his commentary towards the end of last night’s game. and while the former chelsea first team coach’s words were a generous yet accurate assessment of spurs’ performance, the sting was still there. we all knew it would end this way.

ricardo carvahlo pokes the ball away from gareth bale.

even bale's immense talent isn't enough to ward off the inevitable.

thank god for ray, though: he was a like a machine gun that fired off training ground quips at random intervals. if it hadn’t been for his entertaining commentary, i doubt many tottenham fans would have in any way found the match enjoyable.

either way, let’s just say i’m glad i didn’t make any predictions in yesterday’s column.

in a rare display of common sense, even i knew that i would end up putting my foot in my mouth by making some absurd prediction of a tottenham victory in the bernabéu. the yids had already pulled off a miracle this season at the san siro (an argument could even be made that they pulled off two miracles there), but asking for another magical european night facing another storied opponent? nobody’s luck stays good so long.

besides, redknapp had already been mugged in madrid once this year. would it really be that surprising if it happened again?

even with the man advantage for three-fourths of the match, madrid clearly looked the better side. the interplay at the

di maria celebrating his scorcher against madrid

angel di maria's belter was the nail in tottenham's champions league coffin.

top of the pitch between the two-goal adebayor, ronaldo, ozïl and di maria was, at times, a force of nature. the tandem of xabi alonso and khedira completely neutralized any central threat from modrić and jenas. (tangent warning: is it just me, or is jermaine jenas the worst player ever to play in a champions league quarter-final? he didn’t play one positively directed ball, and when he attempted to, he coughed it up every time. i hate him.)

without crouch up top to divert their attention, the madrid back line did little wrong in handling counter attacks sporadically coming out of the tottenham end. and with less defensive responsibility, it allowed marcelo the freedom to regularly join the madrid attack. judging by his performance both tonight and over recent months, i’m guessing the special one is feeling rather justified with hanging on to the emerging brazilian.

sure, the red card certainly threw tottenham’s match plans out the window. but i would venture to say that even if

crouch sees red against real madrid

crouch's stupidity likely didn't impact the eventual outcome that much.

crouch hadn’t been an idiot, spurs would still have been tactically out matched. massimo allegri and rafa benitez are great managers, but neither prepares their side as well as mourinho. and though harry’s not as big of a tactical moron as some like to claim, there’s no doubting that mourinho is a class above in that department.

but like mr. wilkins noted in the opening quote, tottenham’s performance wasn’t all bad. there were positives to glean from the horrid 0-4 scoreline:

  • bale seems to be getting his mojo back. he was able to really open it up a few times last night, a first since he went out injured. moments that stick out were the near miss in the fist half after beautifully chesting down a long ball at the top of the madrid box, as well as a very accurate long throw to van der vaart. he was dangerous enough to draw a ban-inducing yellow on pepe, and should have earned another from sergio ramos on several occasions.
  • michael dawson is definitely emerging as a premier level center back. despite the score, he handled himself very well when facing up against one of the most gifted attacking groups in the world.
  • sandro’s rise to prominence continued last night, though his decision-making at times made me sweat (quit dribbling out of the back!). regardless, his distribution is light years better than palacios and he may soon find himself ahead of even huddlestone when he returns from injury.
  • spurs defended very well with ten men for stretches, and it’s a bit shocking that they held off until the 57th and 72th minutes before conceding the second and third goals. if they had been at full strength, i think a 1-2 or 1-3 scoreline would have been more likely.

despite these bright spots, and even if there had a been a few more, i still knew this was coming. it was “the inevitable.”

yes, the second leg still remains. but it would be foolish to predict another miracle. beating madrid by five goals, even at home, is pure fantasy. getting knocked out the champions league wouldn’t be the worst of scenarios either, allowing spurs to fully focus their efforts on finishing fourth and qualifying for the champions league again.

but i am hoping tottenham will make it competitive this time around. it’s been a fun ride this year, and i’d love to get to see some of the attacking flair that was deprived us last night. and if we’re so lucky, we can all enjoy just one more european night at white hart lane.