Chelsea Pensioners

Champions League

One of the tasks AVB was given by Abramovich was to overhaul the Chelsea squad, including ageing stars like Drogba & Lampard. However, the old guard, especially Drogba weighing in with vital goals, have been instrumental in Chelsea's recent return to top form. Having looked dead & buried in the last 16 v Napoli, they have now beaten the mighty Barca with only ten men for over 50 minutes of the SF second leg, & reached two cup finals.

Performance of the Month

Bubba Watson, who promptly burst into tears after sinking the winning putt which clinched his first major at the Masters.

Honourable mentions:
Chelsea.
Real Madrid, who inflicted Barca's first home defeat for 54 matches with a 2-1 win at the Bernabeu, & so took a seemingly insurmountable seven point lead in La Liga.

The German Mentality

Germany arguably do not have more talented players than England, but they consistently outperform us in the big tournaments. If only England had their mentality. Players like Klose are of the same generation as Lampard & Gerrard, but they have delivered when it matters. Everyone knows Germany’s World Cup record is awesome, but their recent tournament record is exceptional. Apart from Euro 2004, where they didnt get out of the group stage, they over-achieved to reach the 2002 final; then semis in 2006 (though with home advantage) ,runners-up at Euro 2008 & now semis again. Their 4-0 win over Argentina makes the English defeat look slightly better. Once again they were able to soak up pressure & were devastating on the counter.

I expected Brazil to beat Spain in the final, but they self-destructed against Holland. Still no African team has reached a WC semi-final.
No-one could have predicted both France, & the holders Italy, going out at the group stage, & both finishing bottom of their groups.

Wimbledon

In November I was at the O2 for the Masters & saw Djokovic comfortably take care of Nadal. In fact Rafa lost all his matches in straight sets. So it’s quite incredible how he has regained the no. 1 spot & again done the French-Wimbledon double. At the moment, it;’s difficult to see anyone challenging him (maybe Del Potro, if he can regain his previous level after wrist surgery)
, & assuming his knees hold up, he can set his sights on Federer’s record no. of Slams, he’s already half-way there with 8 majors.
Many commentators are wondering whether its time to start writing Federer's obituary. His incredible streak of 23 consecutive Slam semis having been broken, he's now made two Slam QF exits in a row. I'm not writing him off though, & am expecting to bounce back at the US hardcourt season & the US Open.

Andy Murray came up short in the semi v Rafa. Nadal played the big points better- taking the only break point in the 1st set, but he also benefited from a net cord in the 2nd set tiebreak. Murray is very close to winning a Slam but i do wonder if his groundstrokes are big enough.-he can’t blast opponents off the court like Soderling or Berdych. The latter is someone whose low ranking i always found a puzzle, considering he has wins over Roger & Rafa. But this year he's finally broken into the top ten, reaching the French semis & the final here at SW19.

Laura Robson, ranked 234 prior to Wimbledon, again put up a good fight against a much higher ranked opponent (no. 4 Jankovic) but lost in straight sets. I was surprised to read an article in the Guardian that Wozniacki is the only teenager currently in the top 25. The WTA top 20 average is 26, 5 years older than it was in 1990. Many prodigies in the womens game have won slams/cracked the top ten at an early age-Capriati, Seles, Graf, Hingis, Sabatini, Sanchez-Vicario, the Williamses etc. But lately with the Williams sisters, the Belgians coming out of retirement, the top players are extending their careers into their late twenties & beyond. With her talent I think Robson can make top 50 at the least, & with the higher average age of the top players, has time on her side.

A Tale of Two Full-Backs

I could have titled this 'A Tale of Two Goalies' but it didn't have the same ring to it.

Enlgand 1 Germany 2

The full-backs: arguably England's best player was Micah Richards. He displayed nimble footwork, and athleticism & provided the assist for Lampard's goal. The German debutant, Pander, scored a cracking winner from long-range.

I think James should now be given his chance ahead of Robinson in goal. Robbo has just made too many howlers recently, & his current lack of confidence is affecting his judgement.

England fans will hope Owen is back to his sharpest for the qualifier v Israel on September 8. He missed a couple a half-chances last night that he would have gobbled up on top form.

A goal down at half time, a long-range effort from SW-P which Lehman saved comfortably, low to his right, was the best England had to show for their second-half efforts.

Lampard answered his critics & played well. One writer (Matthew Norman in the Evening Standard) dismissed him as a 'mercenary' this week, but his commitment to the England cause couldn't be faulted last night. As well as scoring, he tracked back diligently & won his share of tackles in midfield.

The latest FIFA rankings show all the traditional major European powers (Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal) ahead of England, who are 12th. Brazil are 1st. Surprisingly, Argentina are ranked one ahead of World Cup holders Italy (3rd). Strange when you think that Argentina lost in the QFs, but then the FIFA ranking system does use a four-year (weighted) ranking period. See the link to FIFA's site below.

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m/fullranking.html