the day of Ballon d' Or
Can Manuel Neuer surprise Ronaldo and Messi to win Ballon d’Or?
Manuel Neuer- the last goalkeeper to get this award was in 1963
In almost all sports, there is a handy way to determine who is the best: the result. People may prefer one style of play to another or think one side performed better, but that is subjective and not what is being measured.
The identity of a team sport’s finest player is also besides its point. Each of the three finalists for the Ballon d’Or in Zurich on Monday has a legitimate claim on the title, each raising interesting questions about how football is to be evaluated. In 58 years, only once has a goalkeeper been chosen - the Russian Lev Yashin in 1963. I just want it to be over. Neuer is the best of the lot to be fair, just to shut the Messi and Ronaldo supporters up
Click to viewRap battle video for the Ballon d'Or
Chatter from the sidelines
- Reddit has a comprehensive preview of what's to come for the Ballon d'Or
- Higuain in, Balotelli out? who knows? Balotelli is over his England adventure
- Liverpool FC captain Steven Gerrard to be one of Adidas' stars in three stripes Adidas a major contributor to why Gerrard is going to the MLS. He will be their brand ambassador over there
- Liga - Pep Guardiola: I am not Barcelona’s solution he also refused to sign a Barcelona shirt a few days ago. Signed the Bayern jerseys but not Barcelona. Guardiola left Barcelona on bad terms, people seem to forget
- Bale better than Ronaldo on free kicks oh? Link in Spanish
- Frank Lampard FINALLY signs contract with NYFC dodgy, dodgy, dodgy
- Manchester City agree £30m fee with Swansea City for Wilfried Bony sad for Swansea, happy for Bony. Manchester City by dint of their position in the PL do have a higher profile (CL matches, etc.)
- Radamel Falcao stormed out of Old Trafford after being left out of Manchester United squad for Southampton I will admit, that was a headscratch, he left before the game was over
- Alexis Sanchez demolishes Stoke, stats show just how ridiculously good he’s been for Arsenal this season wow, he's just been on fire since he landed here
- Lionel Messi says he has no intention of leaving Barcelona rest easy, everyone!
- Toronto FC Leading Race To Sign Jozy Altidore a race? Okay. He's not worth the wages of a DP though
- Balotelli's agent Raiola will meet with Liverpool next week, Juve Denies being interested in Super Mario rumour has it Balotelli might be out on loan somewhere for the rest of the season. Too bad. Rodgers didn't want him (the transfer committee took him over Rodgers' objections- and Rodgers was too rigid to change his system for Balotelli. In addition, you get the feeling that potential in football has a shelf life, and there's only so much people are willing to take a chance on you until they give up. It's not even a race thing, either (smh at Bentner) it is what it is. Managers have gambled their reputations on Balotelli and have come out worse for it, sad.
- Gay Charlton Athletic fans ‘ambushed’ by homophobic thugs at football match what?! How horrific
- Roma left a pencil for all the journalists who came to their game in memory of the Charlie Hebbo incident
- DEATH OF JUNIOR MALANDA: HIS FRIEND ANTHONY D'ALBERTO HAS NOT YET HAD HIS LICENSE AND WAS TRAVELING AT NEARLY 250 KM / H wow, that makes it even sadderETA this article gives the correct information. The car was going at 80mph, Manda wasn't wearing a seatbelt. Thank you for the correction, lied_ohne_worte
- Vine account of Steven Gerrard greeting his teammates after his game sniffle
- Everton are a shining beacon for football as a force for good in the community good example of community outreach with a football club. They work with young offenders, disabled charities, the lot
Pictures
Before we get into the match pics. Some Hummels
His last pictures as a single man?
Said a Hummels fan last night: engagements can be broken. All right, now.
So, let's talk about the games, yes?
MOTM, Alexis Sanchez, scored two goals, iirc. Had that work rate, was all over the pitch. Arsenal won 3-0
Ozil had his first game in a minute. Looked good, had some sweet passes.
Giroud and Sanchez after goal
Debuchy got a shoulder injury. Stoke seemed overly aggressive but at the end of it, only their goalkeeper was working
Ospina in goal. James' wife's brother. He's wearing her old face
Bejovic (Stoke's goalie) was the only one who was working, and he let the third goal in. Good game for Arsenal, terrible game for Stoke. Moving on
Mata had two attempts at goal and missed. Manchester United went on to lose to Southampton 0-1
Mata was working. It just wasn't his day
Valdes and De Gea training before the match. Some gossip- De Gea has eighteen months left on his contract. Sources say that he's in no rush, because if he doesn't sign, he can leave on a free. Also, gossip has it that Casillas has said that he'd step aside if De Gea came in. No shouting, please. I'm just the messenger on this fine Monday morning
Manchester United aren't my team, but I've always found their original kit handsome. Ander Herrera, my little alleged match fixer, shows the lines off nicely.
The match between the Saints and the Devils threatened to dissolve into a scuffle, but never went there. Nope, that was for the Barca vs Atletico match. More on that later
Can we admire Valdes and De Gea in these suits though?
Tadic got the only goal of the game. He was hilarious, they had to wait to get him on the pitch because he'd left his shoes and kit in the locker room. Then he came on, scored the goal, whipped off his shirt and got a yellow card. I... just... why?
The narrative around Southampton has been interesting. People are wondering how they've lucked out in having Koeman- the thing is, he was up for Dutch national coach, but got rebuffed. Pochettino went on to Tottenham Spurs (it is said that he jumped at the opportunity because it was a bigger club, and he felt that he needed to deal with the high profile of speaking, press, as well as behind the scenes. It is felt that with Pochettino, that he'll return to Spain for an 'important club' but he needed to leave Spain first) and Koeman took on the Saints. There's a rumour that in his contract, if Barcelona offer him a coaching position, he can break the terms of the contract for £2 million (either the club or himself. When Pochettino broke his contract to Southampton to coach the Spurs he paid the release fee himself- normally, the hiring club does that, iirc)
There's a delicious irony (I can appreciate it as an LFC fan) that Southampton sold seven of their seemingly strongest players to LFC (I wouldn't say we got the best seven- Lovren is crap, Lambert on the downside of his career) and yet, they're looking at top four, and LFC will be lucky if we even hold on to 8th place. But that's what a good, organised, flexible coach who gets the ethos of a club gets you. And oh, he raided the Dutch league as well for re enforcements, but they were unfancied players so. But as a fan, it's good for the game to see the Saints marching in. From shaky PL entry to solid fourth place in the space of five years. How can one NOT admire such a club? Especially with their outlook of investing in academy talent and breaking them into the first team and getting their just rewards? I can only admire.
Love this picture.
TIL: Manchester United are on the same points standing this season - the same as last season when Moyes was in charge
First time Southampton beat Manchester United at Old Trafford since 1958
Briefly touching on the Serie A. I don't follow it, because I already follow three leagues, which is enough to be going with. But this Totti picture is a scream
Juventus played Napoli last night. Score, 3-1. Thanks to the4thjuliek for the correction
Totti took a selfie, that's all I needed to know
Poldi at Inter. There's no option for them to buy him, iirc
Mancini got hit with a ball in the face.
He wasn't hurt, Inter won, and with that, we leave the Serie A
Yesterday, all over the pitches in Europe, there was a minute's silence for the Charlie Hebbo killings. The players in the PL (Arsenal vs Stoke match) wore black bands on their sleeves
I like Real Sociedad, I've always done. My thing with them this season though, is that they start well, and then fade away. Giving away that penalty to Granada was crazy!
For all my whinging though, they are looking fitter. But they need to start winning more, and leaving with 3 points instead of 1. They drew with Granada, 1-1
"¡OMG!" say Messers Suárez, Neymar and Messi, "let us talk about that game last night, Jas" (because Spanish speakers can't pronounce my full name. The S and C together defeat them)
"Fine", I huff, "but let me fix my hair first."
Lionel Messi received an award for highest goal scorer in La Liga. Ronaldo is off somewhere going, 'soon my pet, sooooon'.
I blew off an online conversation (to practice my Spanish) for this game. I expected thrills and spills
Barcelona picked Altético's lock, in that Neymar fired the opening salvo
Suarez got a look in
Messi was on form last night. He had something to prove, the entire team did. You got the feeling that Enrique didn't coach them this week at all. That messers Neymar, Messi and Suarez got together in their secret club house and did this thing
The thing with Atlético Madrid is- they walk the fine line between intensity and technique. When their intensity overtake their technique they fall to pieces. Like they did with at match at Real Sociedad
Jose Gimenez made a strong tackle on Neymar. I winced, and I'm accustomed to watching the English league, and we like a good tackle in the morning.
Neymar got bloodied. He got taken off to get his foot seen too. Told Enrique NOT to replace him, because he was coming back, y'all
A kiss to Juanfran (thank you for the correction), before Neymar called him a puta then went and OUTPLAYED Atletico. Neymar got stomped and kicked on, and played even better. Goddamn
That's what unalloyed joy looks like. Someone said that Neymar's love affair with football is the greatest love of his life. Everything else pales in relation to it
Neymar scored! He runs to Messi. Enrique's job is saved?
Barca played like a team - more due to their bonds and talents than Enrique's influence. He's no Simeone
Give me a minute to mourn here. Two guys who played for Liverpool. *Fans overheated face, blinks back tears, sniffles, wipes at nose* I'm okay now. I'm OKAY
So Atletico - this is their second kit? They really lost their form and discipline that made them win over Madrid. Damnit. They came away with a loss.
I saw Torres warming up, but I went, 'It must be a cold night, Barcelona can be cold this time of year, I know, because I've visited. I'd warm up too'
Only for Torres to be called up on the pitch! My face, it was like D: After the game with Real Madrid, Simeone did say that Torres had to adjust to Atletico's style of play: the high press, the physicality, the intensity (Torres did sit on the bench at Chelsea for a bit, then to throw him to Milan was weird). I didn't expect Torres to pop up until three matches down the line. Simeone, what was your plan?
That being said, if Torres had been a fraction of a second faster, Atletico could have had a second goal (about five minutes after he came on)
The reflexes are there, but blunted. Simeone has his work cut out, but I can see why he took a flutter? NGL, I'm fascinated by the narrative between both men. Football is rife with stories, and this is one of the better ones.
Could be a bit stronger though, Torres. He seems a bit tentative, but better than his first match vs Real Madrid
I leave you with this picture of the teams before the match. Barcelona went on to win 3-1. Simeone says that he expects to do business in the transfer window (doesn't close until Feb 02), Lionel Messi said that there's no aggro between himself and the coach, and that he won't leave Barcelona. The referee made the yellow cards rain, and although sad result for Atletico, it was a good match. As usual, any mistakes, broken links, corrections, please word and I will attend to it when I have time. Thank you again for reading! I'm trying to use the tags, but they still confuse me, terribly sorry