Blue Is The Colour

The month of May has seen some thrilling sporting finishes, with the last day of the Premier League, where the title was not decided until injury time, and the Champions League final going to penalties. The French Open first round match between Serena Williams & Virginie Razzano was another. Up 5-1 in the 2nd set tiebreak & cruising, Serena lost six straight points & then the first five games of the final set. She recovered to 5-3, & then there was an incredible final game lasting nearly 25 minutes, with 12 deuces & 5 break points. Razzano began cramping up, but managed to close it out on her 8th match point. It was excruciating to watch at times, with great shots alternating with tired efforts. The drama included a controversial forfeit of points for hindrance (usually called when the opponent makes a noise deemed to have put the opponent off their shot). It was the biggest win in the career of Razzano, ranked 111.

Alec Ferguson deserves great credit for the way Man U took the title race with City to the wire, despite the superior squad of the Blues. Scholes had to come out of retirement to boost the Man U midfield, & they were without their best defender, Vidic, for most of the season.
Fergie’s record of sustained excellence makes it to hard now to deny him the title of the greatest British club manager, above the likes of Paisley, Clough, Busby, Nicholson, Shankly, Revie etc.

Chelsea again rode their luck in the Champions League final, & only started to put their passing together in extra time. Crucially, they held their nerve better than Munich at penalties. David Luiz, famously derided for his defensive positional sense, smacked his into the top corner, & Drogba, with his last kick for the club, sent Neuer the wrong way to win the cup.

Performance of the Month

Chelsea. Who else ?

Honourable mentions:
Ronnie O'Sullivan, who was tested in his quarter-final with Robertson, but otherwise cruised to his fourth world title at the Crucible.
Pastor Maldonado, who became the first Venezuelan F1 winner of a F1 by winning the Spanish GP.

Manchester Ambitions Reined In

December review

Champions League

The group stage has seen shock exits for Man U & Man City. When United were at their peak, teams from the smaller European leagues like Benfica & Basle would have been swept aside by a comfortable margin at Old Trafford. This season, two home draws against those teams cost them. Man City had a much tougher group, & couldn’t get the better of Bayern & Napoli.
Pundits like Keane & Southgate, in a snap reaction after Man U’s exit, talked of a team in transition. I thought it was premature at the time, & so it’s proved, with them now level on points with City at the top of the Prem. It looks like the title race will go all the way, so far United are coping with the injuries to the likes of Vidic & Jones. However, to go from UCL runners-up to a group stage exit in a year, is still a disaster for them.
Meanwhile, Barcelona have underlined their status as favourites again, with a crushing 4-0 win over Santos in the World Club Cup as well as beating Real 3-1 at the Bernabeu in La Liga.

The draw for the Europa League will have given further ammunition to the conspiracy theorists who believe Platini has an anti-English basis. The draws for Man U & City of Ajax & Porto respectively, are the toughest possible ties.

One of the greats of Braziilan football died last month. Socrates played in two world cups; & the 1982 side of Zico, Falcao, Junior, Eder, is widely thought of as one of the best teams not to have the won the World Cup.

Perfomance of the Year

Novak Djokovic. He went on a 41 match win streak this year, & won three of the four Slams, as well as a setting a new record of five Masters titles in a season. Although his season tailed off slightly with a back injury taking its toll (two retirements) & he finished with a 70-6 win loss record, it was still a standout performance.
Honourable mentions for Cadel Evans, Mark Cavendish, the All Blacks & the England cricket team.

Premiership Predictions

Predictions for the top five:
Arsenal haven't made any signings to solve their problems in central defence or in goal, & the two best creative midfielders leaving is too not too promising either. No doubt they will flatter to deceive again this season & Gervinho may be able to score the goals when Van Persie is injured.
Liverpool can be contenders if they continue the form they showed last season when King Kenny took over. With players like Adam, Suarez, Carroll, (& Gerrard if fit) they look strong in attack but how strong is their defence ?
Man City might be the closest challengers to Man U, but I think even with their squad & the addition of Aguero, they will struggle to cope with balancing their their first season in the Champions League with a title run.
Chelsea have yet to make any big new signings but new coach Villas-Boas had a fantastic season with Porto, & if he can inspire Torres back to form they can push United.
I can't see anyone stopping Man U though. Rooney, Nani, Hernadez/Berbatov in attack & now Ashley Young has been added to the list of top class wingers at Man U. The defence with Vidic & Ferdinand/Smalling should be as tight as last year. the Community Shield win over Man City showed once more that they are the comeback kings, as they did v Blackpool & West Ham in the league last season, they overcame a two-goal defecit to win.
So my top 5 is
1. Man U
2. Chelsea
3. Man City
4. Liverpool
5. Arsenal