Ibrahimovic Return to Form

            An interesting game for Paris Saint-Germain took place tonight, with a 2-0 victory against FC Nantes marking the return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic after his three game suspension. With an exciting and fun to watch first half shifting to a lengthy and uneventful second half, PSG takes the lead of the French Ligue 1 once again. Also continuing was Matuidi’s top form, scoring a crucial goal just moments after taking a hit from Papy Mison Djilobodji. He kept the intensity up the entire time he was out on the field, and it decreased undoubtedly due to his substitution just after the half.  Cavani scored the other goal of the night, and his performance played out as usual. He scored a goal early, but then continued on to miss plenty more opportunities later in the game. Cavani’s performance of late has just not been acceptable, especially with Ibrahimovic coming back into the equation, and for his and the team’s sake, he can’t rely on scoring an easy opportunity and then not really caring much.

            As for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and his return, there is some good and some bad to be said. First, he was deeply involved in both goals scored, creating space and then making important plays to set up his teammates. It is good to see that he at least still has the form that he left with and is expected of him. On the other hand, we will have to see how he fits back in with his teammates that have grown accustomed to him on the sidelines. While he was effective in creating opportunities with his team and they worked together to score twice, there were some instances where it looked as if there may be some tensions. One of these times was where Cavani was denied a goal when he could have passed to an open Ibrahimovic. At this, Zlatan got after his teammate, criticizing him for going to goal. Later, Ibrahimovic was guilty of the same thing, selfishly looking to score when Pastore was definitely a more viable option. While his actual form and ability to play the game has not diminished, it will be interesting to see how Zlatan integrates into the form that the rest of his team has settled in during his absence. Either way, the victory was important and well deserved for the French team and I have to think that Ibrahimovic’s return will be beneficial for the most part.

Chelsea Win League

            The race is finally over. The Premier League title has been taken by Chelsea following a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace. While there are still games left in the season, Chelsea has taken the championship by its sheer number of points over the competition. Currently seven points ahead of its closest rival, Manchester City, Chelsea has been heads above the competition. This winning game was representative of the entire season for the team. In the beginning of the game, Chelsea was playing nervously and couldn’t seem to make up their minds on how to play: either attacking or just waiting the game out. A header by Hazard before the break brought some calm to the team, and they were able to hold Crystal Palace off for the rest of the game to win the title. This is very much like how the rest of their season has gone, with Chelsea sitting miles ahead of the league. This leaves them caught between a team that wants to attack and play the game, but also one that wants to do anything it can to win, even if that means sitting back and accepting minor victories. They have often, especially more recently, just held their opponents, scoring on a counter, and then just sitting on a 1-0 lead until the end. Obviously, this tactic has proved useful, and although it is less fun to watch, I think most fans would take the league title over the team playing fancy football.

            The success of the club, although a team victory, can most definitely be attributed to the success of two individuals: manager Jose Mourinho and midfielder Eden Hazard. Taking part in player growth and honing in on key players and their roles, Mourinho has really helped the team become, well, a team. Also, he has managed to get along with (for the most part) the people around him at Chelsea, something that was not the case at previous clubs. As for Eden Hazard, he will no doubt be winning player of the year awards from multiple places, and he has been crucial to everything Chelsea has done this season. With 14 goals and 8 assists, Hazard has been a part of most every attack that Chelsea staged. Considered by many to be the best player of the Premier League, it is no question that he has been valuable to Chelsea in their efforts. Hazard has been a key player in their attack and overall play, and his, along with Mourinho’s, role in the team have been very important to their success. 

Ostrich-Gate Controversy

            As the Premier League comes to a close, and along with a team winning the title, teams are trying to avoid relegation. Along with this, pressure is building up, and one of the teams feeling this pressure is Leicester City. Having won many of their previous games and actually moving out of the relegation zone, Leicester has been looking good in their avoidance of relegation. However, going up against Chelsea, who are almost guaranteed to win the league this season, Leicester lost 3-1, leaving them out of relegation but not by as much as they previously were. The controversy comes outside the game, however, during a press conference with Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson. Basically, after getting annoyed by a journalist, Pearson asked him if he was an ostrich because he had his head in the sand. This continued, and he shortly walked out of the interview. Then, during the pregame conference for their next game, Pearson apologized to him, but was later called out for being a bully by yet another reporter. So now, other managers are either supporting Pearson or saying that what he did was wrong.

            One argument is that, as a manager of a team near relegation, he is obviously under a lot of pressure and that built up and led to what happened. Also, some say that this is how the whole reporter thing works, with them constantly coming at the managers with questions and then this leads to the managers reacting sometimes. Others say that Pearson’s was an act of bullying and he wasn’t able to manage his anger well. I think that, while not the best, Pearson’s actions were definitely well justified and he handled the situation well. First, I believe that the reporter was making Pearson repeat himself, and he felt that the questions were simply stupid. Also, to Pearson being criticized for his lack of anger management, I think that if he was angry, he handled it quite well. He never raised his voice, and he appeared relatively calm even when addressing the second reporter calling him a bully. I feel that most people are making too big of a deal out of the whole thing, and that it is just the relationship that reporters and managers will always have. 

City Struggle for Win

            At the other end of composure comes a game from the weekend that was chaos at best. Manchester City went up against Aston Villa and took a not-so-pretty victory, but a victory nonetheless. Defensive plights were followed by goalkeeping errors, and goals for each team followed. At just three minutes, Villa goalkeeper Guzan played an uncomfortable pass out of the back right to Aguero’s feet, and he wasted no time putting City one goal up. Similar things happened on the other end of the field, however, as a mixup in City’s defense gave Villa a comparably easy goal. Nearing the end of the game, Villa looked like they were making a viable comeback. Then, City substitute Fernandinho came through for his team and put in a late winner, giving City a scrappy win to put them in second.

            Manchester City really needs to get their game together if they want any shot at reaching Chelsea (however slim). Chelsea still sits comfortably at the top of the table with fewer games played, and they have looked much more composed than City did today. Even to stay in second place ahead of Arsenal, Manchester City will have little luck playing like they did today. Looking ahead, there is much to be done for the team during the summer, and they are by no means without need of a few players.

Barca Stay Composed

            Despite a relatively hard struggle for the top of the Spanish league table between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the latter seems to have no thoughts of giving that place up. In a Catalan derby today against Espanyol, there seemed to be some doubt going into the game today, at least for us viewers. Espanyol has been having a fairly good run recently and Barcelona surely has other matches on their minds, so most saw some chance at an upset. The Barcelona squad apparently had no notion of this, and their focus never strayed from the game at hand. In just the opening minutes, the Barcelona attacking end had already tested the keeper, and took just 17 minutes for them to open the game with a goal. The game was not all lopsided, but the team had few difficulties pulling off the 2-0 victory. Let’s take a second to look at Barcelona’s three up top. They have been nothing short of phenomenal lately, and it seems no defense can withstand their power. When Neymar came in last season, him and Messi definitely had a disconnect for a while, but this season the pair has been inseparable. I can’t tell you how many goals a scored between these two, and it seems like it’s assist after assist for either of them. Then, when Suarez came in this season, it took some time before he was well integrated with the two. Now, there is no question of their group performance, let alone their individual.

            Also, it is quite reassuring to see that the team was able to keep their focus at such an important time. Luis Enrique must have been able to convince the team to forget about anything besides this game, and it definitely worked. When fans and analysts alike doubted their ability to bring their top performance to this game, Barcelona just played their game as always. Barcelona has never lost away to Espanyol, and they were not able to continue this, but to further reinforce their table standings. It is nice to see at least one team keep their cool as the season approaches a close, and this type of composure is one that wins leagues.

Relegation and Newcastle

            It is truly a bad time to be a Newcastle United fan, and it would definitely be hard to support a team going on a 7 game losing streak; which is their worst Premier League performance yet. It seems as if they are trying to put themselves in a bad position, as they are seemingly toying with the reach of the Premier League relegation. For those of you who don’t know, the English football system is based on promotion and relegation, and as the end of the season is arriving, I figured I might as well talk about it. There are four tiers of league football, and below that is considered non-league. The top two tiers are the well-known Premier League and then The Championship coming in at second tier. I will only explain the relationship between these two leagues, but just know that the rest of the system follows the same principles for the most part. At the end of the regular season, the bottom three teams of the Premier League (based on points accumulated throughout the season: 3 points for a win, 1 for a tie, and none for a loss) are relegated, meaning they move down to the Championship league, not to be confused with the Champions League, for the next season. The top end of the Championship league is promoted, although in a slightly different fashion. The number 1 and 2 teams are guaranteed promotion to the Premier league, and then the third through the sixth have playoffs to secure the final position to be promoted.

            This system has many implications for the league, and it is very influential for some teams much more than others. The system leaves some teams that are being promoted and relegated year after year, sitting at the top of one league and the bottom of another. For others, mostly in the mid-table of the Premier League, relegation is something to be feared, and for obvious reason. I can guarantee that there are plenty of people that have heard of the Premier League and can name a few popular teams, and it is often on TV here in the U.S. On the other hand, if many of those people read this post, it would contain completely new information, and this would be the first time that they had heard of the Championship, and, to be honest, it was the first time that I completely understood how some of the lower ends worked, such as the non-league play. For a club, the difference is night and day. How many people want to buy apparel from a team in the Championship that very few people talk about? Compare that with the popularity and publicity of the Premier League, and at least financially wise, relegation could seem like the end of the world.

            All this, yet Newcastle still aren’t showing any signs of desperation or a desire to stay in the Premier League. Just today against Swansea, a team that had nothing to play for, Newcastle scored early and fans were hoping the end to the nonsense had finally ended. They were nothing but wrong, as Swansea came out of halftime flying; scoring three goals to take the win at 3-2. Next week, Newcastle look to take on Leicester City, a team that has been fighting off relegation all season and, for now, has overcome the bottom three. Leicester has been doing exactly what they needed to the last few games, and Newcastle really should learn something from them. If Newcastle continues this run, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go to the dreaded relegation, and I can’t say that they won’t have deserved it. To be fair, I am not saying anything about the legitimacy of the lower leagues and their competitiveness, but the Premier League is obviously where a team would rather be.

            

Easy Win for Aston Villa

            Today marked another sad day for Liverpool fans, the kind that has not been lacking in the slightest this season. Following lost Champions League dreams due to a Manchester City win, Liverpool took on Aston Villa in an attempt to continue their FA Cup efforts. Unfortunately, these fell apart today as well, leaving Liverpool, and its manager, in a poor position. The loss was not undeserved, however, as the team remained in a lack of formation and played with little creativity. When given a chance to go up with a free kick just outside the box, it was wasted with a sorry attempt that was easily taken by Villa goalkeeper Shay Given. Liverpool’s Gerrard also had a sad performance, and the team lacked any competitive edge overall.

            Aston Villa, on the other hand, played with an attitude quite the opposite of Liverpool’s. They came out and played with excitement, using their energy to blow past a slow Liverpool side. Even 19 year old Jack Grealish made one of his few competitive debuts, fighting just as the rest of his team, looking better than many of Liverpool’s players. At one point Liverpool did seem to still be in the game, as Sterling’s assist for Coutinho’s goal in the 30^th minute gave them a slight boost to their energy, but it did not last. Villa simply outfought the Reds, and the win was easily deserved and won.

            This game shows that Sherwood obviously got his tactics right and Rodgers still is not able to control and organize his team. Sherwood employed simple tactics and stuck to his lineup from the start, and it beat out Liverpool in the end. Rodgers, on the other hand, tried switching things around, but he was unable to find anything to bring success to the already failing team. Many are questioning Rodgers capability as manager already, and this game only solidifies those claims.