No one would blame you for going out and signing Gareth Bale (LW) after his
performance against Inter Milan on Tuesday in the Champions League. No one would have blamed you
for doing the same thing a fortnight ago after his other standout performance against Inter Milan.
I think we're all in agreement that those two performances were pivotal, match-defining and
certainly make the case for him being described as the best winger in the world.
The last week has been a fan's dream, seven days straight of world class footy. Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday we have been treated to Europe's two top club competitions (Europa League, and
the UEFA Champions League) where seventh of La Liga's top sides are looking for continental
glory!
Valencia 3-0 Rangers
Los Che gave the Rangers their first loss of their European campaign.
Given Manchester City's recent performances, it's no surprise to hear major questions being
asked of the newly rich. If Week 10′s showing is what's to be expected from
Citeh in the future, then they'll struggle to break into the Champions League spots once
again. Things looked to be heading nicely in the right direction as The Skyblues sat in
second place ahead of both Arsenal and Manchester United.
Clean-sheets are fast becoming a thing of the past as clubs pour more focus and importance into
the aspect of scoring goals. That said, however, Week 10 proved to be a more normal week
in the English top-flight as seven of the twenty clubs managed to keep clean-sheets. Chelsea were
able to overcome an early goal to keep their five-point lead over the rest of the title
contenders.
Last Week's Stats: 5/10
Stats Overall: 39/70
1. Valencia (4th) Zaragoza (20th): 1.
Valencia broke my heart last week with their home loss to Mallorca. But a midweek victory in the
Copa del Rey and Saturday's match against basement dweller Zaragoza are the perfect games to get
Valencia's season back on track.
This week sees a number of juicy fixtures presented. The first Tyne-Wear Derby in more
than a year resumes as Newcastle United begrudgingly welcome Sunderland to St.
James' Park on Sunday. While a massive Second City Derby kicks off as Aston Villa
also begrudgingly welcome Birmingham City to Villa Park later that same day.
Released to the world today was something so horrific; something so damned; something so
blatantly and utterly disfunctional that it cannot even be summed up in a few words. No, it's not a
portrait of Wayne Rooney. But of course he's one hell of a hard
contender to beat.
Two years ago on a rainy morning, I got up bleary eyed, did my daily due diligence and cursed
Jose Mourinho and his horribly defensive ways with Inter, and then proceeded to have the
Breakfast of Champions of Cheerios and milk. When I saw that Ryan Giggs
had won the FA's Player of the Year I nearly lost my breakfast.
In light of Wayne Rooney's new £50M deal with Manchester United, we here at
JBM were rather disgusted by the resultant increase in pay for a player currently yet to
score a goal from open play this season no, a completed spot-kick is not a goal from open play. But
that tract of thought brought about a few other questions about players' performances and their
respective values.
It's no surprise to anyone to hear that another Arsenal player is injured sometime throughout
the play of the season. Additionally, it's also far from surprising when The Gunners'
manager, Arsene Wenger, resumes normal service by citing that their opponents feel the need to
batter them properly because they can't match their skill.
Week 8 saw Everton rightfully dismantle a hapless Liverpool side in the first Merseyside
Derby of the 2010-11 season. And two-nil up with a fair portion of the match to go, The
Toffees' supporters can certainly be granted the right to poke fun at the plight of their
neighbors. Chants rang out from the home side citing the fact that at the time of play and even
currently Liverpool were well mired in the relegation zone.
After Arsenal's three-nil pasting of Manchester City, it wouldn't be much of surprise to see
this week's JBM Team of the Week populated by The Gunners. But, only one of the
Londoners managed to make the squad while Cesc Fabregas (AM) gets the head nod for
foolhardy-quote-of-the-week by claiming that Arsenal would have beat [Manchester City] even if
they had 15 players on the pitch.
It was a wonderfully entertaining week full of pitch invasions, death threats, idiot fans, and
plenty of goals So just a regular week around JBM. With UEFA Champions League back after
the horrible Interlull followed by Europa League and then domestic footy, we have had
football to watch every day this week.
Samir Nasri's new best friend!
Held captive by Nigel De Jong (CM), The Blue Elephant has been
spirited back to London on the back of Arsenal's three-nil tonking of Manchester City on Sunday.
Goals from Samir Nasri (AM), Alex Song (CM) and Nicklas Bendtner
(S), gave The Gunners the coveted blue pachyderm.
Cristiano Ronaldo was dazzling against Racing Santander on Saturday. He led
Real Madrid to a 6-1 victory with a remarkable four goal performance. The Portuguese forward was
the subject of a lot of criticism in his first four games of the season where he was branded as
"selfish" by the media.
