Sunday, February 20, 2011

Around Europe


France – Still Lille

The smaller club from the industrial northern town of the same name has opened up a five point gap as it is slowly cements its position atop the standings.  Capitalising on the inconsistencies of fellow clubs jockeying for position at the summit, LOSC Lille has retained the leadership of Ligue through the end of 2010 into the New Year.  Although some transfer speculation linking star midfielders Eden Hazard and Yohan Cabaye threatened to derail both morale and teamwork, Lille have responded by sticking to their task and have kept on trucking.  Unbeaten since October 24th, their defensive stolidity and occasionally attacking brilliance have allowed a solid base on which to build their title challenge.


On the horizon are potential battles with three of the French giants as PSG, Marseille and Lyon have all crept back up the standings to occupy the top five.  With plenty of football still left, Lille has its work cut out to swat off the advances of the all three teams, as they finally put their bad start to the season behind them to rise to the top of the table.  Meanwhile early pace setters, St. Etienne, Montpellier and Toulouse have all drifted down into mid-table while Stade Rennes retains a slim chance, as they cling on five points behind the leaders.

To be fair, PSG were never completely out of the running and resided on the periphery of the top spots but renewed vigour from both Marseille and Lyon have tasked the club from the capital into becoming more consistent.  Their title challenge is still shaky with indifferent home form and an attack that averages just over a goal a game.  Marseille look a lot better and have eased out of the drop zone with some flashes of form, especially against the big boys.  Lyon are on the warpath again as they seek to reclaim a crown that was a long time resident in their trophy cabinet.  Strong away form and better defence has seen them lose only twice since the end of September.


Monaco and Auxerre, fresh of an encouraging but futile Champions’ League campaign, hover in and just above the relegation zone.  1999 Ligue 1 winners Lens provide excellent company as they know two out of three spots are still undecided.  Rock bottom Arles Avignon are adrift with only 9 points all season.

With 15 rounds still remaining, expect any of the top five to triumph as the musical chairs across the table continues.


Lille’s Senegalese striker Moussa Sow leads the league with 16 goals while PSG’s Nene and Lorient’s Kevin Gameiro follow with 13 and 12 goals apiece.

Portugal – Potent Porto

Just to the Southwest, in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, FC Porto are still streets ahead of the competition with an 11 point lead over second placed Benfica.  So far, their 20 games have yielded 18 wins and 2 draws as Porto seem intent on smashing all records as they return to the domestic summit and Champions’ League in some style.  Benfica themselves are no chumps as they have won 15 times while opening up another massive 12 points gap to third placed Sporting Lisbon.  With the latter and Guimares jostling for the two Europa League spots, the form of the front two is put in some perspective.  Put another way, after 20 rounds, the gap from first to fourth is 27 points.  Porto has almost doubled fourth placed Guimares’ haul of 29 points.


With the Europa League set to kick off again, all of the four Portuguese clubs still in contention will seek to rest some players, in order to preserve them for matches ahead.  Only Benfica and Porto can afford to do so, with both Braga and Sporting in a battle to return to continental competition next season.

Porto striker Hulk still leads all players with 19 goals in 9 assists.  Rio Ave’s Joao Tomas is next with 12 goals.

Scotland – A lot of Heart

The duopoly in Scotland is still very much that with both Celtic and Rangers locked at the top of the standings.  Celtic has a small gap to Rangers on account of having played a couple of games more but, despite 11 games in which the two Glaswegian giants have dropped points, they are virtually inseparable.  Celtic have only lost twice overall but have drawn four times while Rangers are slightly more fallible, having lost three games.  Both clubs have notched 50+ plus goals each in their 20 odd games but Celtic’s defence looks to be tighter having conceded only 15 goals all season.  Expect the Hoops’ rearguard to be the defining factor in a long title sprint between these two.  Goal difference is often worth an extra point and Celtic leads their rivals by eight goals in that column.


Of more interest will be the tie that was served up in the Scottish FA Cup fifth round as Celtic and Rangers were drawn to play each other.  An entertaining 2-2 draw prompted a replay as both giants seek to eliminate their biggest rivals well before the FA Cup final.  Most encouraging has been Hearts campaign as they sit only 5 points behind Rangers with 16 wins from 25 games.  In a league that is often over before it begins, for clubs outside the big two, Hearts’ performance is very promising, and their multi-ethnic squad, most interesting, with 12 different nationalities.

Rangers’ Kenny Miller continues to leads all scorers with 21 goals while behind him, Killie’s Connor Sammon has notched 15.  Most productive is ex-Arsenal striker Anthony Stokes, with 13 goals and 6 assists for Celtic.

Holland – Twin Peaks

FC Twente has joined PSV at the summit of the Eredivisie as both clubs sport identical 15-5-3 records.  PSV are more potent though with 62 goals and a difference of 41.  After looking out of the title race early on, Twente have battled back strongly as they will clearly not give up their crown without a fight.  Although a difference of 22 is impressive, compared to the offensive production at Eindhoven, it looks fairly pedestrian.  Leading club striker Mark Janko will need others to complement his 14 goals, if Twente are to last the distance.  On the flip side, a five point gap down to Ajax in third, if maintained till the end of the season, will see a return to the Champions’ League, albeit at the 3rd Qualifying round.


PSV have a more balanced squad but a slight recent wobble has seen them fall back down to the pack.  With a very promising spring campaign in the Europa League still to come, PSV would want to rebuild that gap at the top of the table.  For Ajax, although Champions’ League qualification is a must, they must do so without the departures of both Luis Suarez and Urby Emmanuelson.  Although their squad strength is still considerable, Ajax’s season hangs in the balance and they could still be caught by Groningen or ADO Den Haag, both of whom are snapping at their heels for third place.

The Dutch mid-table makes for the most interesting viewing as several of its denizens have shown renewed ability and massive amounts of belief in an exciting tussle for the Europa League spots.  Recently Den Hag beat PSV away while Roda battled Ajax to a 2-2 tie.  Alkmaar meanwhile have been in free fall with consecutive defeats and only one win in six.  Holland has a crazy post season with playoffs for both relegation as well as European spots, so expect to see plenty of drama as the season continues into spring.


Nijmegen’s Belgian marksman Bjorn Vleminckx leads all scorers with 17 goals while behind him Russian striker Dmitri Bulykin of Den Haag and Slovenian Tim Matavs of Groningen have 15 goals each.


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