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Looking back at the recent winners of the Champions League the obvious conclusion is that it can only be won with luck, which although that adds to the unpredictability it can also lead to less excitement.

Porto had a lot of luck when they won it(as did Monaco in getting to the final), Liverpool had it when they ‘scored’ that goal, Milan won it with a lucky goal, and it can be said for most Champions League winners, they got lucky. Although there is the odd time the favourites win it e.g Barcelona in 2006, it doesn’t often happen. But the Champions League is also built on turning points; Liverpool never looked like winning the final until the first goal went in, they never even looked like getting past the group stages until Gerrard saved them with a wonder goal, which gave them the confidence to go on and win it, Kaka did the same for Milan last year against Celtic, and when Porto beat Manchester United you can bet they had the belief that they could beat anyone.

The Champions League is often referred to as the most exciting competition in world football, and I often wonder why, there’s no doubting that it has the best teams competing in it year in, year out but more often than not up until the Quarter-Finals the football played is very tactical and often more cautious than the football we are used to watching our team play.

AC Milan never play their best football until long after the group stages, nor do Liverpool, Manchester United or Real Madrid(Barcelona the exception as they really play great football the whole way through, and rip the weaker teams apart in the group stages) . The so-called ‘big teams’ show much less ambition and play the same sort of football the other ‘smaller’ teams play against them. So I ask everyone, is the Champions League better than the Premiership or La Liga? (the Bundesliga isn’t of the same quality in truth, and I find it hard to watch Serie A, the football Italian teams play is just so different and I find it hard to get excited about it) Or even is it better than International football?

International football is completely different to club football, but there’s no doubt that it generates the same excitement when the World Cup comes along. The World Cup brings together entire countries together and the supports always unbelievable. The football is also, in my opinion, more open and much easier to watch than the Champions League, for the most part, which is slightly confusing as they are both cup competitions and the prize is equally as prestigious.

Being from Northern Ireland I don’t have a lot of experience of World Cup triumphs(or even getting past the qualifying stages…) but any International Match generates huge support and although Northern Ireland are truly rubbish aren’t one of the best teams, we still get the odd thing to cheer about, beating England being one of them winning the ‘Best Supporters Award in European International football’ in 2005 being one of them

The Champions League also no doubt brings up some absolutely outstanding matches regularly in terms of excitement and technical ability, two of which being Roma v Manchester United and Liverpool v AC Milan, but also as is often seen in football great teams can cancel each other out and just be a test of endurance rather than ability. In terms of support I’d go as far as saying it is the best, in the days leading up to these matches(largely down to the media) are built up to be something special, and I find people are more excited before these matches than in their respective league matches.

Now in my opinion my preference is and always will be the Premiership because of the pace of the game and the continuous excitement and upsets. Theres nothing like hearing a Liverpool fan talking about how this season will be the season everything comes together, or the Chelsea fans’ in denial that without Roman’s millions they would still be the team they are(hopefully now with Fat Tony there the downfall will start and Roman will leave them, ah one can dream eh?) , Arsenal fans’ reiteration that they’re ‘still a young team’ and ‘next year they will have matured and become great’ or Manchester United fans’ saying… well they don’t say too much… its hard to say anything with a mouth full of prawn sandwiches. And although the games can often become scrappy, theres always a few goals, and goals of real quality at that.

This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Although Solskjaer was never going to be a main player for Manchester United this season, and we all knew he wasn’t going to last forever, but even looking at last season he still knows how to score goals, and could have been a great asset. Anyone who loves football can admire Ole’s unique ability to change a game, so he should be loved by many, and he will be a loss to football in general. Football will miss ya Ole

But this could be exactly what needed to happen to show Sir Alex we don’t have enough strikers, 3 recognized strikers isn’t enough to challenge for the Premiership, or any other cups, for the whole season, and if Manchester United don’t buy another striker before Wednesday it’ll be a tough season. Sir Alex knows this, and the chance of getting Anelka shouldn’t be neglected.

Anelka has shown he can score, run in behind the defence, and I’m sure many defences would be scared of him at this time playing for Bolton, never mind Manchester United. I really doubted that we would buy anyone after we got Tevez, and Sir Alex could prove to be too stubborn and stick to his word, but two strikers and Saha won’t be enough. There’s very little reason not to get Anelka other than the fact that Berbatov would probably be the only better striker we could possibly get in the next year, but if we got Anelka(this year) and Berbatov(next year), and sold Saha, then Manchester United’s strike force would probably be the best in the league.

Obviously Saha’s a top class striker, but even with ignoring his injury problems, I still think Anelka is a slightly better player, both being strikers who like to play right up top, but Anelka being a better goalscorer and Saha being better at holding the ball without slowing down the play. Getting Berbatov before next summer seems highly unlikely, unless Martin Jol gets sacked either tomorrow, or sometime before the January transfer window. By the way although I think Martin Jol is a good enough manager to take Spurs into the champions league, I still think Juande Ramos is a better manager…

So what do you guys think? Will Ole’s impending retirement push Fergie to signing a new striker for Manchester United?

[Source: BBC]

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Seems to be that these two are being compared to each other constantly, always linked with moves to the Premiership. We’ve looked at both players and what they have to offer – read up and then offer your views (and pick) in the comments.

David Villa is often linked with Chelsea (beginning of last season and this summer) and ever since Rafa was given the millions that he now has at his disposal, Liverpool have been linked as a very suitable place for Villa to go to (because of Rafa’s obvious preference for Spanish players, and also the fact that he is one of the best strikers in the world, which is what Liverpool are looking for) .

Fernando Torres has been recognized as a player with huge potential ever since he became Atletico’s captain at the age of 19. But many still regard him as having great potential, while others believe that he is now one of the world’s top strikers. I am one of those people; he’s fast, strong, good at heading, scores goals and gets involved in the build-up play. Torres has been linked with Manchester United for two summers in a row, but year after year he outlines his loyalty to making Atletico one of the top teams in
Spain.

I actually quite like Atletico and think that they have a good team, but somehow they under perform every year, and Torres has still never realised his dream of getting into the champions league (I just can’t see it happening with Atletico) .

I’d say within two years he will be in the champions league, probably with an English team, as he is unlikely to go to another Spanish team, and I can’t see him going to any Italian team, which leaves us with any of the top four, although he isn’t as frequently linked with Chelsea anymore and Arsenal seem to have no money at all after building the Emirates, which leaves you with Liverpool and Manchester United, who both are looking for strikers, and I’d put Torres in the top 15 strikers, possibly top 10.

David Villa seemed to come from nowhere to become one of the top strikers in the world. I remember two years ago reading in a magazine that Liverpool were interested in him, when he was at Real Zaragoza, and I had absolutely no idea who he was, I think it was just after he had a wonderful season scoring over 15 goals (which for Zaragoza, who weren’t great back then, was a good record), and apparently he was available for around 8 million.

Instead they signed Peter Crouch for 7 million when Crouch obviously just had a good run of form and he was never Liverpool quality, and so Villa moved to Valencia, and from then he has proved himself to be one of the deadliest strikers in the world, again he has pace, he’s good at shooting, and he gets into good positions.

This summer he is widely expected to move to the Premiership (if he moves at all) and Chelsea or Liverpool seem his likely destinations, but I think that Villa being linked with Chelsea is just paper talk, because of three things:

1. Chelsea don’t seem likely to spend big
2. They just brought in Pizzaro, and although Pizzaro seems to be fairly average, they should have enough strikers now
3. And I think that Shevchenko will be given another year in the team

But Liverpool would be a good team for him, and Kuyt and Villa would probably work well(or even better Tevez and Villa) and Rafa apparently has the money to spend so everything seems to point to Liverpool.

In terms of finishing ability, Villa has proved he is better, as last year he finished joint top scorer in the league, scoring 23 goals (I think) whereas in contrast, Torres has never scored more than 15 league goals. This could be down to the teams they play for, but I think most people would agree Villa is a better goalscorer.

In my opinion they are both pretty close in terms of speed and dribbling ability. And they both are fairly skillful, Villa having the edge in technical ability while Torres has the edge in aerial duels..

As I am a Manchester United supporter I would prefer to have Torres, as he fits our style of play better, but overall I think David Villa is the better striker (although he is likely to cost a lot more).

What do you guys think?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News