PSG: The New Man City

Football clubs today are the new toys of rich Qatari sheikhs. It's as simple as that. You have your little prince or sheikh bored out of his mind in his palace, and then he realises, the one thing that would suppress his boredom would be buying a team who participate in the sport that Westerners call football.

Man City have been bought, Malaga have been bought, and now PSG have been bought. The latter of which are seriously going at it big time this transfer window. They have appointed Leonardo as director of football, which in fact is the role that I would like to have at a football club. You make all the decisions regarding transfers and which players you sell, and then you've made a mistake you blame it on the innocent manager who most likely gets fired. Anyway, I predict that if Leonardo's signings flop, it will be Antoine Kombouare, the PSG manager who loses his job and not the Brazilian.

Some of the signings that Leonardo has made: Sirigu from Palermo, Matuidi from St. Etienne and Kevin Gamiero from Lorient, and one signing who should arrive in the next 24 hours, Javier Pastore, for, dare I say it, 43 million euros, about 35 million pounds.

So, PSG seem well on their way to becoming the best club in France and winning the Ligue 1. I cannot really think of anybody who will be able to stop them. Lille have sold their main stars a part from Hazard, Lyon have been under performing recently and Marseille haven't invested sums comparable to PSG in the transfer market. Europe should watch out, because PSG are coming!

Barcelona: They don't need Fabregas!!!

Watching the second half of the Audi Cup final last night between a Barcelona B team with David Villa and a first team Bayern was seeing a team with an average age of no more than 23 humiliate a european football powerhouse. And it was shocking. Barcelona, I realise, are essentially a machine: they churn out top quality young players. Every year, there are maybe 5-10 top quality youngsters (as good as Jack Wilshere) who come through the Barcelona youth system.

The reason I make the comparison with Jack Wilshere is because a while back Pep Guardiola claimed that the Barcelona B team possessed many Jack Wilsheres. The press in England weren't happy when he said this, I refused to believe him, but now, I think I do. Barcelona are staggering.

They are the Apple of the football world. Everybody is at their feet, and everybody is lightyears behind. Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City are not even close to having a youth system like Barcelona's where new Jack Wilsheres are produced weekly, the only team in England I can think of are Arsenal but even then, and I say this as a fan, the quality of the players we produce is completely inferior to Barcelona's.

All this then begs the question? Why do they need Fabregas? Why did they buy Sanchez? For Fabregas, I think Barcelona are a bit paranoid about the fragility of Iniesta and Xavi who are it is fair to say quite injury prone. Fabregas would be able to come in and play. Also Xavi is getting quite old now, he is 31, so maybe also Barcelona are thinking for the future. But for Sanchez I have no idea. They have 3 world class strikers already, why do they need another one?

Mario Balotelli being Mario Balotelli...

Mario Balotelli has got to be one of the funniest players out there, just for his manner and style. If you haven't seen this already, in a friendly against LA Galaxy, he decides that he can backheel it into the goal. He doesn't need to shoot it normally. I love this guy!! Comment and enjoy!!

A Tour to Remember...

This Tour has really been spectacular in all aspects. We have had an unthinkable number of crashes, some great stage wins, many surprises and some riders really showing us their talent. Cadel Evans is one of them, and he took the yellow jersey over Andy and Franck Schleck by a comfortable margin of one and a half minutes. Samuel Sanchez and Mark Cavendish win to my delight the polka dot and green jerseys respectively, the former winning 1 stage and the latter winning 5, including the last one on the Champs Elysees. Pierre Rolland, the young Frenchman who won on Alpe d'Huez wins the white jersey, while Garmin win the team prize and Jeremy Roy wins the most combative rider award.

If you asked me to pick out one moment from this year's Tour, I simply couldn't. It would be too hard as there have been so many events and moments that have really been edge of your seat stuff. However I can probably just about single out the 3 moments that stand out the most to me.

The first one is probably the win for Samuel Sanchez at Luz-Ardiden. He rides for my favourite team in Euskaltel-Euskadi (with Team HTC) and so I was really happy to see him win as Euskaltel don't get that many victories. He held off Franck Schleck and Jelle Vanendert to sprint away to the win in what was the first mountain stage of this year's Tour.

My next moment is Cadel Evans winning. You couldn't not have this as a key moment of this year's Tour as his performance in the time trial was phenomenal. Some people were wondering whether he would really be able to pull back the minute required on the Schlecks but he did more than that: he destroyed the Schlecks. Great moment, as it was really nice to see a bit of a surprise winner.

My third moment would be Mark Cavendish winning today at the Champs Elysees. He won 4 times previously and this really was the cherry on the cake. He also got the green jersey of course, and it really was just a recap of another great Tour for Mark Cavendish. Hopefully this green jersey won't be his last and he will be able to win more jerseys in the future.

What was the moment that out the most for you at this year's Tour de France??

Sanchez to Barca. it's official, at last!!

Now, as you know if you r ead this regularly, I do not support Barcelona, however, I am happy he signed there. Out of the clubs interested, I think it was the best choice. Move to Man City, and you will get drowned out by another half a dozen world class footballers and will never see with the subs board with your number on it telling you to come on. Inter...well, I don't like Inter.

Barcelona is the team that will most suit his style of play. He is fast and plays interesting and attractive football, and Barcelona are the best in the world at doing that, followed by Arsenal. He'll also get the chance to play along players who are very much like him in Messi, Pedro, however in another sense, I can't see how he's going to fit in. Somebody will have to make way. Barcelona play 4-3-3 normally, like so:

Villa-Messi-Pedro

Iniesta-Busquets-Xavi

So just how is Sanchez going to fit in. It will mean either Pedro or Villa dropping to the bench, and I imagine neither will be very happy. Of course, you could play Sanchez off the bench, but that really wouldn't suit him either. We'll have to see what happens.

In other transfer news, Gervinho has completed his move to Arsenal at last, official pictures can be seen on the Arsenal website and Gabriel Heinze has joined Roma from Marseille on a one year deal. Also, Capdevila joins Benfica for two years, Jozy Altidore signs for AZ Alkmaar in Holland and Wigan again loan out, it has to be said, rubbish signing Mauro Boselli to Estudiantes, the club he came from originally. There's a nice little transfer round up for you!!

My All-Time Cricket XI

I've been wanting to do a post like this for a while, and what really made me want to do it even more was the unveiling of the ICC cricket eleven, supposedly the greatest team of all time (for more info, see here). I decided to do my own version as I don't totally agree with the final team. As always, enjoy and comment!! Who makes your dream team??

The Open 2011: A Worthy Champion

The Open 2011 has been and gone and left, I think, a worthy and deserved champion in Darren Clarke. This really is the Northern Irishman's great comeback after personal problems marred much of his professional career. He finished 5 under par, giving him the championship by a comfortable 3 shot margin.

There really were abysmal weather conditions coming into the Open this year, the Scottish open at Castle Stuart looking like a total mud slide. The conditions continued on into The Open and it was really only the last day that saw things clear up, even though there was still a great amount of wind.

Bjorn looked strong early on, and others, such as Clarke, Ricky Fowler and Miguel Angel Jimenez came through, even though the latter faded on the last day. I also secretly thought that the terrible conditions would even favour the 61 year old Tom Watson, but in the end he faded away, even though it was a good effort. The longer he goes on playing the more remarkable it is.

This year's open also really revealed some of the up and coming talents in the world of golf, for example Ricky Fowler and Tom Lewis, a young amateur named after Tom Watson. It really is promising for the world of golf especially of course with Rory McIllroy who is simply phenomenal.

Even though I would have preferred others to win, Miguel Angel Jimenez for example, I feel that Darren Clarke really deserved it, especially after the death of his wife a few years ago. Well done Darren!!

The Best Golf Shot EVER!!!

This is the most amazing golf shot I have ever seen by none other than Miguel Angel Jimenez, the laid back Spanish golfer who likes to smoke cigars in his free time. He manages to hit it off the wall so that it bounces onto the green. Absolutely phenomenal. Take a look for yourself.

Note: I don't own the video.

Tour de France 2011: The Half-Way Point

We are now approximately half way through this year's Tour de France, which has been action packed to say the least. There have been crashes, bad car drivers, surprisingly in form riders and much much more. I can't really think of a more action packed start to a Tour in recent years.

The number of crashes that we have has so far on this Tour has been absolutely unbelievable. Wiggins, Van den Broeck, Vinokourov, Horner and the list goes on. It's really strange. Last year there were no way near the number of crashes. The difference I think is most likely down to the the fact that the average speed of the race has risen considerably over the last couple of years meaning that when you crash it hurts a lot more.

We should also not forget the terrible crash on stage 9, caused by a rubbish driver. If there is one powerful image coming out of this Tour so far it is that. How a driver can be so ignorant and unaware is beyond my understanding. All he had to do was slowly brake but instead in a sudden movement he swerved and hit Flecha, who then hit Hoogerland, the latter crashing into barbed wire at top speed. Disgraceful.

In terms of stages, Cavendish has shown his form by winning 3, and could of won 4 if he had more team mates on Stage 10, where he was only just beaten on the line by Andre Greipel. Thje two main yellow jersey holders so far on the Tour have been Hushovd and Voeckler, the current holder. Hushovd showed incredible guts to hold on to his lead for as long as he did, sticking with the climbers for example on the climb up to Super Besse. However Voeckler took over on stage 9, after getting in a breakaway and so far is also doing a very good job at sticking with the leaders. For the other jerseys, Cavendish is currently in green, Jeremy Roy, the Frenchman has the polka dot jersey and the white jersey belongs to Robert Gesink.

The scond part of the Tour is when it gets difficult, however. Tomorrow the riders face a mountain top finish at Plateau de Beille and later on in the Alps face two mountain top finishes at the Galibier and the Alpe d'Huez in the space of two days. Contador will really have to step up to the plate if he is to have any chance, as he already behind a considerable amount. Cadel Evans, the Schlecks (Frank especially) and Ivan Basso look like the strongest riders (way stronger than Contador), but we could have a few surprises in store. Who knows what's going to happen.

The Tevez Dilemma

This is easily the biggest talking point in football at the moment: the Carlos Tevez saga. Carlos Tevez has clearly stated that he is never coming back to Manchester again. He called it a "small and wet" city and it is obvious he wants to be closer to his home, Argentina. Corinthians made an offer of 35 million pounds which was quite swiftly rejected by Man City, but how much do they really want for him?

Man City really do have all the money in the world. They can buy anyone they want, as long as the player wants to join. Whether it's 1 million or 50 million, he doesn't notice the difference. Man City should just have accepted the offer and then spent maybe 50million on another player. Aguero, who they are reportedly targeting I think is a no go zone as Tevez will no doubt have advised his fellow Argentine not to set foot in Manchester.

It's understandable if you are a club with not much money trying to keep hold of your star, but this is Man City we're talking about. And there are a wealth of non-Argentine strikers currently available. Neymar, Hazard and even potentially Eto'o to name but few. All of which I think would be available for under 50 million, not that it really matters.

If I were a manager I would never keep an unhappy player at a football club as he would lack a hunger to play which I think every player should have. Also, you really don't want to have the bad attitude rub off on the other players. If this happens, the team could even spilt in two and turmoil could occur, see France at the 2010 World Cup.

Women's World Cup: Who will win?

Women's football is surprising similar to men's football. Facts like England always losing on penalties, England playing the long ball and France being the up and coming team seem to be present in both types of football. The biggest shock of the World Cup so far as far as I know is Germany getting knocked out by arguably minnows, Japan. I don't follow women's football at all if I'm honest, but seeing as the world cup is on, I figured I may as well watch it.

So, who will win? France, Sweden, Japan and the USA are left in the competition, and, out of that, I'm going to say France. I watched the France vs England game and they looked impressive. Yes they only managed to overcome England on penalties but their style of play was really entertaining and they have a few good player: Necib and Abily, for example.

Brazil would undoubtedly have been the favourites had they managed to beat USA but they lost on penalties: they have the world's best player Marta, who is the Messi of women's football if you like.

Again, I think the French will probably win it now, but the USA and potentially Japan will give them a good challenge. I'm definitely going to be watching the Final which promises to be action packed and hopefully will go to penalties.

Silverstone: What a Race!!

I have to say, I was very skeptical going into this weekend with regards to the British GP. Vettel was in theory just going to get another pole and another win, with nobody who could really challenge him.

But that is in no way what happened. Webber started off by getting pole, however he was overtaken after a brilliant start by Vettel. Vettel was leading quite comfortably until he made a pit stop where the Red Bull mechanics took too long and Alonso managed to get ahead and eventually win. Oh of course, Button also crashed out and Massa and Hamilton made serious contact in the last corner, but both finished, Hamilton in front of Massa.

You also cannot forget the blatant team orders given by Red Bull to Mark Webber to "hold the gap", that is between himself who finished third and Vettel who finished second (Webber would have easily caught and overtaken Vettel had his team not told him to hold back). iT really was quite disgraceful, firstly because even Christian Horner admitted it and secondly because it has been explicitly prohibited in the rules for this season.

It was a great win for Fernando Alonso though. The Ferrari had been performing reasonably well this season but it had not yet got a win to it's name, however now, it has. You also have to point out the great drive by Hamilton, who even with practically no fuel l;eft in the tank at the last lap managed to hold off Felipe Massa for 4th place.

Finally, to slightly come back to the Red Bull team order situation, I really hope something happens because what's the point of outlawing something if you don't punish somebody who does it. Christian Horner clearly admitted it, so I would really expect the race officials to take a closer look at it, especially as it was heard by the millions watching on TV.

NBA Lockout: Just get on with it

The situation in the NBA at the moment does not look good. Nobody can agree on a new collective bargaining agreement, which is basically if you don't all about how much the players and teams get paid. David Stern, who's the head of the NBA wants to cut player salaries considerably, but of course this isn't going down well with Derek Fisher, who's the head of the player's association: so we have a lockout.

Now I'm really not happy with the situation, like many other fans: as you should know if you read this regularly, I support the Nets and our star Deron Williams will only have 1 year left on his contract with option of 1 extra year when this lockout finishes (if it does by the end of this coming season, which it should do). So he'll potentially be a free agent (hopefully he won't be, he has hinted at wanting to stay) and there's even talk of him now going off to play at Besiktas during the lockout. If Allen Iverson stays, Besiktas will be one hell of a team. And I was using Deron Williams as an example, but there are many other players with the same situation that worries their team. Dwight Howard, for example.

I wish that professional athletes could be less greedy. I every sport it's the same, and they have to accept that sometimes you have to take cuts. Besides, they have practically the best job in the world as NBA players, with all the fame and actually getting to play basketball in front of loads of people for money. It really is unbelievable how fame and money affects people.

I really hope this lockout ends soon, as I'm sure a lot of people do, I'm desperate to see next season get underway, but at the moment, it really isn't looking likely. The two sides are really disagreeing strongly with each other and we'll have to see whether they can come to either a new agreement or simply an extension of the current deal as soon as possible.

Lebron James: The Best

Lebron is getting criticised an awful lot at the moment and I don't really understand it. I made this mix to remind people what he can do (if you've already forgotten) and to show why in my opinion he is the best player in the NBA. Also of course, it will give hardcore NBA fans something to watch during the lockout!! Enjoy and comment!!!

The Klitschkos: My new Favorite Boxers

Klitschko's performance last night really was top class. He faced maybe the best boxer he's ever faced in David Haye, and came out on top, for the most part because his tactics were spot on. I really was impressed, and the Klitschko fighters have really grown into being my favourite boxers. James Toney, I used to support you, but now I've moved on: it's time for me to get behind the Klitschkos.

Wladimir really was on top form last night. Haye could not find a way round his jab: nobody, to be fair to Haye, has really managed to find a solution to Dr. Steelhammer's jab. You really can't get close to him because of it.

Now Haye was blaming his defeat on a broken toe, which I think is really soft. I have broken my toe before, and although it is extremely painful, once you've taken tons of painkillers, you can't really feel it, so it's not much of an excuse. He was just outboxed by Klitschko, and he didn't have an answer.

I really hope David Haye shuts up now. I think he is all talk and no walk and he only beats opponents at heavyweight who are really pretty bad. Klitschko gave him a well deserved lesson, which I, and I'm sure many others, are very happy about.

So what next? Who knows. The heavyweight division is it has to be said very weak at the moment, and I expect Haye to take at least a few months to think things over. Klitschko on the other hand will just presumably continue fighting opponents greatly inferior to him and keep winning. However retirement must also be on his mind, along with that of his older brother, Vitali.

Also, if you're interested, I've decided to stop supporting Mirko Cro Cop in the UFC: he's a phenomenal fighter, and I would continue supporting him if he was still going to fight more in the future, but he is on the verge of retirement and he only has one, fight left, maybe even none. I have decided instead to become a fan of Cain Velasquez. He is the current heavyweight champion and is a fighter I've always liked since I started following the UFC. 

Djokovic vs Nadal: Why even bother?

At the moment, tennis greatly resembles Formula 1. Nadal is the Red Bull equivalent: wins every Grand Slam and is unarguably better than the rest. Djokovic is like McLaren: sometimes he is capable of exceptional things, but normally he only makes semi finals at Grand Slams. Finally, we have Federer who is the equivalent of Ferrari: used to be the best, but now only only produces occasional Grand Slam wins, even though the tennis he produces is the most sublime to watch, slightly like Ferrari with Alonso.

As far as I'm concerned, this match really is a foregone conclusion: I see absolutely no way that Djokovic will win tomorrow when faced with a Nadal who makes on average no more than 10 unforced errors per match and generally gets every single thing back. He's already won Wimbledon twice, and knows what it's like to be in the final, Djokovic on the other hand has never won and has never been in the final until now.

Djokovic's 1% chance of winning lies in his ability to rediscover his early season form and his winning streak. He was more unstoppable than Nadal then and beat at least twice I believe. If he does that, then we could have a different match to the one I originally described. But again, I fully expect Nadal to record a dominant victory in 3 or 4 sets, slightly like yesterday against Murray.

Being honest, I would have much preferred a Federer vs Nadal final. It's the most interesting game you can get nowadays in the tennis world and I think Federer would have had a chance. But Tsonga had his moment of brilliance and it meant that could not happen. A shame, you really feel that Federer, the Lewis Hamilton of tennis, could have beaten Nadal, the Sebastian Vettel equivalent.

I Now Support Celtic!!

In the past few months, I've started following Scottish football really quite closely, in part because I cover the Scottish Premier League for theoffside.com, but also just because I like the league and the Old Firm rivalry is for me the biggest one there is in football. Therefore, I decided to choose a team: Celtic. I still support Arsenal, AC Milan and Oxford United just as much, but now I support Celtic as well.

Celtic are a really promising team for the future: I feel Rangers are on the decline, no disrespect to them and that Celtic are the team really coming through, being led by Neil Lennon and with players like Beram Kayal, Ki Sung-Young and Efrain Juarez. They play a nice style of football and are in the scale of things a pretty international team.

There are not many Scots who play for Celtic, compared to the number of Scots who play for Rangers and it really adds some variety to the team. They also really came close this year to winning the SPL, and I think that they will have that little bit more that's needed next season to get the job done.

I'm now really looking forward to the next football season as it promises to be interesting and it really is quite hard to predict what will happen.