Andre Villas-Boas: The Future

Last night I sat down and watched the Europa League game between Porto and Villarreal. And I didn't regret it. What a phenomenal game it was. After a dismal first half where they were losing 1-0, Porto came back in the second half and scored 5 goals, winning 5-1. Falcao scored 4 of them, but more importantly, this matched showed the quality of Andre Villas-Boas, the young Porto manager.

Interestingly enough, he has never played a game of competitive football in his life and from a very young age made his way up the ranks of football management. He from one former great, Bobby Robson and one current great, Jose Mourinho. Many have compared him to Jose Mourinho and it is something that is very easy to do, seeing as they're both Portuguese and both made their name with Porto.

However the fact of the matter is that they are totally different managers. Villas Boas plays a very attacking kind of football, and his team play very high, like in the first half last night. Mourinho on the other hand is very defensive and if he wants he can prevent the other team from scoring a goal.

Villas Boas has won 45 games in 52 matches since joining Porto, and that is really quite a ridiculous statistic. Only six games lost since joining Porto. That's better than Mourinho at the time. Rumour has it that Liverpool are looking at him for taking over next season, even though I do think that they should stick with Kenny Dalglish, just to keep the fans on their side.

So, Villas Boas is probably a future great of the world of football management, but I still think that if he and Mourinho were to manage against each other, the latter would emerge victorious, as, ultimately, defensive football always triumphs.

Arsenal, hopeless...

This won't work. The team Arsene Wenger tries to play every week is failing. They again lost to Bolton yesterday, and sooner or later something has got change. What's wrong with this team that can't seem to win or more importantly be real contenders in any competition? They have a golden opportunity to go and win their first bit of silverware in the Carling Cup and they blow it, as they did with very other competition they were in.

The problem, I think, is one of several things. Firstly, there are no big personalities on the team. When you think of any team that wins things, you can think of the personality that goes with club. Chelsea, it's John Terry, Man Utd, it's Rio Ferdinand, Real Madrid, it's Iker Casillas, Barcelona, it's Carlos Puyol. Furthermore, what do all those players have in common? They are all defensive players which brings me on to the second part of Arsenal's problem.

Rubbish centre backs. Koscielny, Squillaci, Djourou? Is Wenger really trying to convince the world that this is a world class defence? Vermaelen is fine but seeing as he is the Yao Ming of the footballing world, always out with in jury, he doesn't really come into the argument. What Wenger needs to do this summer is to take some of the budget he's been given and spend it on not one, not two but three world class centre backs. Lucio (maybe a bit old), Nesta, even people like Upson and Cahill. Good old english hard centre backs if that's what's needed. In buying them, also crap the entire defence apart from Vermaelen and possibly Koscielny as his decent, but as a sub.

Also, somebody like Lloris would be good in goal. This really isn't at all necessary, but Almunia really has to go, and a new goalie is needed. Whether you buy another world class keeper like Lloris or go for a substitute (somebody like Dudek) depends, the question being whether you want to have 1 goalie who is guaranteed number q 24/7 or whether you have two brilliant goalies fighting for their spot. Fabianski being the other goalie Lloris would have to contend with.

Shaq vs Yao

Here's a video I made about arguably the two beasts of the NBA. Enjoy!! Who do you think is best? Shaq or Yao? Comment below or tweet me!!

Ronnie O'Sullivan: The Greatest Ever

You wonder why people even bother to argue about who best player of all time is when Ronnie O'Sullivan plays ton his best. The speed and the accuracy with which he plays really is unbelievable. There is Ronnie O'Sullivan, then there is everybody else.

I'm really glad to see the Rocket back to his best this World Championships, recently having crushed Day in the opening round. He really is ruthless, he holds the record for the fastest 147 ever and I would take Ronnie O'Sullivan over any player.

Who is there to even contend with him for the accolade of best ever? Stephen Hendry has very good credentials, the record 7 time winner of the World Championships and the youngest ever to do so. Alex "Hurricane" Higgins, simply crazy, but in a brilliant way is also a contender. We must not forget Steve Davis and Jimmy White, who are also obviously both legends. There really so many names, but for me they lack something the Rocket has.

I can't exactly put my finger on it, Higgins definitely has that wild streak that Ronnie sometimes shows, but it's not really that. His ability to play at a blistering speed is possibly what it is, but then again, Higgins had that as well. It's probably just natural pure talent that differentiates him from the rest, some of the stuff he can do with a snooker ball is ridiculous.

Paris-Roubaix: Johan who??

I do like cycling for it's unpredictability and this year's Paris-Roubaix was the perfect example. Johan Van Summeren, a Belgian (of course!) and also one of the tallest riders in the professional peloton won it, beating the big favourite Cancellara who finished second.

I do like Cancelllara, don't get me wrong, but it is nice to see somebody come from out of the blue to win the Hell of the North as it's known. The fact that he'd been in a previous breakaway and then managed to hold of the much fresher Cancellara is something that not many have been able to do in the past.

Tom Boonen, another contender sort of vanished, which is quite surprising, however he has had cocaine problems in recent years and his career is basically over, even though he is still quite young for retirement (30, to be exact).

Paris-Roubaix is my favourite one day race, I even have cobble from the famous Trouee d'Aremberg. However the Giro is coming up and the ProTour teams will be seriously preparing. Basso won last year, but depending on who's participating, he could struggle to retain his crown.

NBA Playoffs!!

It's that time of year again, when the 16 best NBA teams fight each other on the road to the finals. The Bulls look good, the Heat look strong and the Lakers and the Celtics are always permanent favourites. Here are my predictions.

EAST

Pacers vs Bulls: I like the Pacers, but Derrick Rose should have too much skill (as he showed in the first game) and the Bulls should comfortably take the series.

Magic vs Hawks: The Hawks. A surprise is needed in the playoffs and I feel this is where it will come. They won the first game and the Magic will crumble even without Howard playing like a beast.

Heat vs 76ers: Heat. Again too much firepower in Lebron, Bosh and Wade even though the 76ers will give them a good fight. It might even go to 7 games, but I doubt it.

Celtics vs Knicks: Good matchup, but the Celtics should win. They have a lot of recent play off experience and will beat the Knicks, even though I do think it will go to 7 games.

WEST

Spurs vs Grizzlies: San Antonio. Self-explanatory.

Thunder vs Nuggets: AGin here I go for a shock Nuggets win. They have been on fire since the Carmelo trade and I reckon they will carry their form into the playoffs.

Lakers vs Hornets: Lakers, they have Kobe and New Orleans have a Chris Paul who is not playing the best of his ability. Should not even go to 7 games.

Mavericks vs Trailblazers: The Mavericks should win this, even though Portland will fight. Will definitely go to 6 or 7 games. Would not be surprised if Portland won, but Mavs should have what it takes.

2nd Round

Spurs vs Nuggets: Very close. But Spurs still have the edge. Spurs have more play off experience.

Lakers vs Mavs: Lakers. Should not have too many problems, even though the Mavs might win a game or two.

Bulls vs Hawks: Again, I go for a surprise Hawks win. The Bulls showed they can be dominated sometimes, last night for example, and I think the Hawks, with Johnson and Horford will win, but not comfortably.

Heat vs Celtics: What a game this one is. I think the Heat will win. Might be a shock to some, but at their best, the triple combo lead by Lebron is unbeatable. Again, will probably go to 7 games.

Conference Finals

Lakers vs Spurs: This is a really tough one to decide. But I go with Spurs. Can't tell you why, it's my gut feeling.

Hawks vs Heat: Again, tough, but I've gotta go with the Heat, for the same reasons mentioned before.

SO THAT MEANS THE FINALS WILL BE, ACCORDING TO ME, THE HEAT VS THE SPURS. WHAT DO YOU THINK? COMMENT OR TWEET.

Why won't Torres score?

At his best, Torres comfortably gets into my dream team. But now, you'd rather have a striker from the lower leagues. His performances have been dismal, he can't kick a ball for money, what the hell is his problem?

I think I found out what it was when reading the newspaper yesterday where they listed all the possible contenders for the Chelsea job after Ancelotti will, presumably, get the sack. Torres' problem is that he only performs to his best when under Benitez. When there started to be rumours last season about Benitez leaving Liverpool, he started to play badly and has not played well ever since (excluding his one good performance against Chelsea for Liverpool).

If Abramovich were very clever, he would appoint Benitez as boss, simply because it's a two way system. Benitez needs spanish players on his team for them to play well, and Torres needs Benitez.

Why do they depend on each other so much? I really don't know. Presumably because they are both Spanish and understand the tactics they share well. All I know is that for Torres to perform, Benitez needs to come to Chelsea and for Benitez to regain his name as a good manager he needs Torres.

Charl Schwartzel wins the Masters!

This winner wasn't expected at all. Nobody paid that much attention to Charl Scwartzel but he kept his nerve and his cool and eventually won, with an amazing 4 birdies in the last 4 holes. Everybody was focusing their attention on thew likes of McIlroy and Woods, but this little known South African came out on top.

I was for Woods on the final day, even though it didn't really matter a great deal who won from my perspective. For me, the shot of the tournament was easily Woods' shot that bent around the trees and hit the green, I can't remember exactly on which hole, but it was on the final day. When you see a shot of that caliber, you know whose just hit it. Only one person can do that and its Tiger Woods.

Easily the most disappointing thing of the tournament was McIlroy losing his nerve on the eleventh on the last day. He somehow managed to hit a shot right next to the clubhouse and he eventually finished with a triple bogey. Things went bad from there, and he constantly missed decent birdie opportunities. Eventually, as I'm sure you know, he finished at 5 under, a massive 7 holes dropped on the last day.

But you know, Schwartzel really looks pretty good, and it'll be interesting to see whether he will be able to keep up his form across the year, especially in the remaining 3 majors. The South Africans really shouldn't be underestimated at golf, they've produced some pretty good players over the years and will surely continue to produce more in the future.

Who do you think will win the MVP?

Everybody says it should be this guy. up here, Derrick Rose. In terms of MOST VALUABLE PLAYER to a team, than I don't think anybody can deny that it has to be Rose. On the other hand, if you're talking about the best player, in terms of skill, it has to be Lebron.

Rose is a phenomenal player, and really, he probably does deserve the MVP, He's taken the Bull from being a playoff team to a championship contenders, and you really can't ask for much more.

James I think is slightly less good than he was last season, mostly because he is in the same team as Wade and Bosh, so his workload and what he needs to do is drastically reduced. But he is still a phenomenal athlete and the closest thing there is to Michael Jordan playing today.

Another potential candidate for MVP is Kevin Durant, who is the leading scorer in the NBA this season with just under 28 PPG. He's a bit of a dark horse, but at the same time it's unlikely he'll win seeing as the competition this year is fierce.

Who do I think will win it? My heart says Lebron, because he's the better player, buy my brain says Rose, because he's more valuable to his team, and that's what matters. I think that's a bad way of judging it, but that's a different discussion for a different day.

Unboxing: Apple Magic Trackpad

Well here's an unboxing, specifically of Apple's Magic Trackpad. With the new setup I have (my Macbook is in clamshell mode connected to a display) I needed a good external trackpad/mouse. I was hesitating between this and the Magic Mouse, so we'll see if I made the right choice in the next few days. A review will be up in the next few weeks. I went for the Trackpad as it really is the future: entirely multi touch, whereas the MM is more restricted and some gestures cannot be done on the latter. I think the mouse is getting old. Enjoy the quick unboxing!! Do you have a Magic Trackpad? What do you think of it?? Tweet or comment.

I now support... FRANCE!!

I said a few posts ago that I still hadn't decided as to who I was going to support in the run up to the Euro 2012 and the World Cup in 2014. I've finally decided. It's going to be France. Why France? Several reasons.

Firstly, I have, as I'm sure you know if you read this blog regularly, very close links with the county, having lived there all my life up until now. I liked the French team before Domenech arrived, but then when he took charge, he basically ruined a team even though he somehow got them to a World Cup final with them playing crap football. Now though, Laurent Blanc is the manager, which brings me on to my second reason.

They are a very promising team. with a phenomenal manager. Blanc is like Didier Deschamps: he's a fantastic leader. The players can look up to him and I'm sure they'll be very successful in the future. They've got Nasri, Lloris, Menez, Valbuena: they're a brilliant young team. By Euro 2012 I doubt many will be able to stop them, especially seeing as they recently beat Brazil in a friendly.

The final reason: they're new shirts ARE SO COOL!!!

The new F1 season...oh, wait it's boring.

F1 is unfortunately the perfect example of a sport that was good 5/10 years ago but has developed into a boring, one team sport. There are so many regulations and rules in the sport, it's really unbelievable and whereas before it was all about the quality of the driver, now it's about who makes the car.

I only got as far as watching the highlights of the Australian GP, which was, as always won by Red Bull, however it was good to see Petrov turn a few heads and get on the podium. The thing I really hate about F1 nowadays is that you can tell from they first race of the season who will win the whole thing at the end. You want a sport to be unpredictable and to be all about skill, and F1 is the opposite.

Nor Vettel nor Webber are very good drivers. For the best drivers you'd be looking at Hamilton, Alonso, Barrichello and Kubica (who is out for the season unfortunately). I'd also add Bruno Senna to that list: Ayrton said he was better than him, and unless the three time F1 champion was secretly getting high, there has to be good reason for his argument. And of course there is Schumi, but he's not the driver he was in his prime.

I didn't mind so much when Ferrari dominated with Schumi for 7 years, as it was the talent of both construction team and driver. but now, it's only the car that matters. But Hamilton in the Hispania team's car and put one of those Indians in a Red Bull, the latter will still win. It really is a bit of a disgrace.

F1 has been and could be such a great sport. Just give the drivers the types of cars that Senna and Prost used to drive and get done with it. It will make for much more entertaining races. The drivers are supposed to be putting their necks on the line. If Senna was alive today I imagine he would be outraged at the current situation.