Struggling Maccabi

Maccabi Tel-Aviv are embarking on only their 2nd ever champions league group stage campaign and its looking so far that their 2nd campaign will be tougher than their first.

Maccabi reached the group stage for the first time in 2004-05 and were pitted alongside three former European winners in the group (Ajax, Bayern Munich and Juventus). On that ocasion they managed to pick up 4 points. They beat Ajax and drew with Juventus both at home.

This campaign however they aren't playing their home games in Tel-Aviv. Despite previously hosting champions league group games, UEFA has deemed the Bloomfield stadium too small to host games so Maccabi have taken temporary residence in the new Sammy Ofer stadium up the road in Haifa. This is another disadvantage when it comes to trying to negotiate a difficult group. Maccabi for home games domestically are backed by a partisan crowd that can intimate visiting teams much like the Turkish, Greek and Eastern European teams are backed by a vociferous crowd. Moving the games to Haifa will take a bit away from the crowd as well the team not being used to playing on the surface.

A quick look back through previous seasons shows that Maccabi's home ground of Bloomfield was used when their arch-rivals Hapoel qualified in 2010-11. It was also used when Maccabi Haifa reached the group stage the previous season although they went on the lose all group games without scoring. So Bloomfield has previously hosted games at this stage which is rather surprising that it's not hosting games now. The Sammy Ofer stadium is a newly built ground for Maccabi Haifa and its a modern 30,000 seater stadium. The Bloomfield stadium is a proper old school ground of just under 15,000 and quiet atmospheric despite the lack of a roof.

As for the team well it looks like Maccabi have it all to do to even get 3rd place in the group. In a group with Chelsea, Dynamo Kyiv and Porto it was always going to be tough but even more so after two defeats. In those defeats they have struggled. The 4-0 defeat away to Chelsea was a tough introduction to the group but last night's 2-0 defeat at "home" to Dynamo Kyiv showed how much Tel-Aviv need to catch up on. The Dynamo defense wasn't tested enough by the Maccabi attack and they looked toothless up front. Their main goal threat Eran Zahavi wasn't able to impose himself on the game with a lack of service and possession wasn't maintained enough. Just the lack of penetration allowed Dynamo to build from the back. The goals were well taken especially Junior Moraes' goal and Dynamo have joined Porto and Chelsea in the tussle for qualification leaving Maccabi at the bottom.
Up next for them is back-to-back games against Porto, it just doesn't get any easier for the Israelis.

Impressive Villarreal

Saturday night saw Villarreal defeat Atlético Madrid 1-0 at El Madrigal to go top of La Liga after six games played. They stayed top after Celta Vigo could only get a 1-1 draw at Eibar later in the night. The table makes for pleasant viewing for fans of the yellow submarine.

The goal last night came from Léo Baptistao who is on loan from Atlético and was allowed to feature given that there was no clause in the loan to prevent him from doing so. The goal was a nice finish from the Brazilian and a reminder to the Atlético management of what he can do. 

Villarreal's impressive start to the season has been built around the newly found confidence from Roberto Soldado the big summer signing from Tottenham while Congolaise striker Cédric Bakambu, who was signed from Bursaspor got in among the goals until his unfortunate injury last week. The midfield features experienced Bruno Soriano and backed up by young budding stars such as Samu Castillejo and Manu Trigueros. The team play a very eye catching short passing game which has continued the tradition built from the Pellegrini era. 

One question that might be asked in the next few weeks is can Villarreal stay competitive at the top? in short probably not but there is optimism that they have given themselves a good chance of ending the season in the final champions league spot. The start of this season has seen both Sevilla and Valencia get off to shaky starts and in the former's case they were bottom going into this weekend's round of games. However both have picked up victories this weekend and are expected to climb up the table into the race for 4th place. Villarreal need to keep this start going. 

In terms of anything more, its very unlikely Villarreal will be able to challenge for the league. They have Europa league football to juggle as well as some testing next few league games to contend with but if they find themselves in a similar position come the new year they could be a dark horse. 

Their next games in the league will be a good indicator to see if they are up to the challenge of staying in the top 4 and maybe higher. 

In the league they have a tough looking next few games. Away to Levante next Sunday before hosting the other surprise package so far in Celta Vigo, a trip to Las Palmas and hosting Sevilla all before November 2nd. Should they come out of those next few games in a similar position to where they are now they will have given themselves a great platform to go on and take the game to an injury hit Barcelona just before the international break in November. 

Previous:

In 2007-08 Villarreal ended the campaign in 2nd place behind runaway winners Real Madrid. They made a similar start to that season as they have done to this. Below is the table in 2007-08 after six games. 

Villarreal this season are actually a point better off than in 2007-08 and also have conceded one goal less also. In 2007-08 they also had a UEFA cup campaign to juggle as well, they reached the last 32 before going out to eventual winners Zenit St Petersburg.

Hopefully Villarreal stick around near the top of the table. It would make for an interesting season if they do. 

Champions first night talking points

Group A
A big talking point from last night was the first Real Madrid penalty award. An outrageous call from referee Ivan Bebek where a shot hit Darijo Srna on the back but was deemed handball, go figure.
Real Madrid were helped by a generous Shakhtar side with first Andriy Pyatov handing Benzema a tap-in before Taras Stepanenko decided he had enough of the game and got himself sent-off ridiculously.

Group B
Luke Shaw suffered a horrible injury last night when making a dash towards the PSV goal. He was stopped in his tracks by Hector Moreno but unfortunately appeared to have his studs caught in the ground as the Mexican made the challenge. Suggestions are today that Shaw will be sidelined for at least six months which will do United no favours but also has England sweating on his fitness for next summer's European championships.
The Shaw injury overshadowed the result which saw United lose 2-1 in Eindhoven despite taking the lead through former PSV winger Memphis Depay. PSV rallied to comeback and secure the three points on a horrible night for Manchester.
Wolfsburg's new recuit Julian Draxler got off to a scoring start against CSKA as the Germans started with a win.

Group C
Atlético got off to a great start with a victory away at Galatasaray. Antoine Griezmann showed his class for the first goal and was helped by Godín's clever header for the second. Galatasaray weren't up to much apart from a flurry of chances early in the second half but its a poor start from them in the group.
Astana played their first ever group stage game and for a while it was looking like ending all square but goals from Nico Gaitan and Kostas Mitroglu gave Benfica the three points.

Group D
Manchester City's champions league hoodoo continued last night when the fell to defeat against Juventus. The runaway leaders of the premier league took the lead through a dubious own goal from Giorgio Chielini with Vincent Kompany clearly impeding the Italian. Mario Mandzukic levelled before Álvaro Morata's delightful curling shot off the post sealed a 2-1 win for the old lady.
Sevilla made light work of Borrusia Monchengladbach in the other game which had a flurry of penalties. Kevin Gamerio scored the first one, crashed the second off the bar and let Éver Banega convert the third before a fortuitous goal from Yevhen Konoplyanka sealed  a memorable night for the Andalucians.

Tonight:

Group E
Bayer Leverkusen will be looking to edge ahead of Roma in the race for 2nd in the group when they host BATE Borisov. The Belarussians endured a horrible group stage last campaign and will be coming to improve on that showing. In any case Leverkusen to nick this game.
Roma face Barcelona at home and I fully expect Barcelona to hit a few past them tonight.

Group F
Dinamo Zagreb host Arsenal in a pretty predictable game. Arsenal to win comfortably.
Olympiacos will be hoping their partisan home crowd can earn them some valuable points against Bayern Munich but the quality that the Germans have will be too much. An easy Bayern win.

Group G
Porto face a tricky assignment in Kyiv tonight and it could be a massive indicator of who might finish 2nd behind Chelsea in the group. Porto are a decent side but so are Dynamo and can see this being a score draw.
Chelsea at home to Maccabi Tel-Aviv is a no contest. Chelsea to knock a few past the Israeli side.

Group H
Valencia host Zenit in what looks like will be a good match-up between two sides with designs on making 1st place their own. Valencia are back in after a few years away and Zenit have to be honest underachieved in this competition. However the unrest with the André Villas-Boas situation could be a distraction so a narrow Valencia win for me here.
Lyon and Gent make up the group and both will be looking for a positive start. Lyon have made an indifferent start domestically and Gent won a first ever Belgian title last season and are 6th currently. Lyon are without Nabil Fekir until the new year and hitman up front Alexandre Lacazette isn't in flying form. Score draw.

Champions League Group stage returns

The group stage returns tonight and some of the match-ups are interesting. We'll start at the start in Group A.

Group A:
PSG v Malmo
Real Madrid v Shakhtar Donetsk

Zlatan dominates the build up as he faces his first club Malmo. The Parisians are unsurprisingly overwhelming favorites for this game and should show why. The Swedes could do with sneaking away with a point but its hard to see that happening. Domestically PSG are top in France by a point from Rennes while Malmo run the risk of missing out on Europe completely for next season as they currently sit 5th in the Allsvenskan.
Nothing much to be said about the other game in the group tonight except that Real Madrid will stroll to a big win.

Group B:
Wolfsburg v CSKA Moskva
PSV Eindhoven v Manchester United

Wolfsburg face CSKA without the sold Kevin De Bruyne but do have Julian Draxler to call upon. The wolves will be a tough test for CSKA especially as they were among the stronger sides that were seeded 4th in the draw. Both sides have made good starts domestically coming into this game with Wolfsburg 3rd in the Bundesliga behind Dortmund and Bayern while CSKA are leading the Russian Premier league by 5 points from cross town rivals Lokomotiv. The obvious goal threats for CSKA are Seydou Doumbia and Ahmed Musa up front although Doumbia is yet to hit top form domestically it was his goals that overcame Sporting CP in the play-off round.
PSV old boy Memphis Depay returning to his previous club is a nice subplot in this game. Can PSV take points off United, maybe. PSV are a step above Club Brugge who were so easily dispatched by United in the play-off round so this will be a closer game than that but expect United to edge it.

Group C:
Galatasaray v Atlético Madrid
Benfica v FC Astana

I do like the look of Galatasaray v Atlético. The fanatical atmosphere from Galatasaray is always a good addition to the competition. Even though they have lost a little bit of that atmosphere with the move into a more modern stadium compared to the old Ali Sami Yen, they still are a tough opponent at home even for Atlético. For the Spaniards though they will be looking to get the Barcelona defeat out of their system. Big question here for them is does Simeone persist with Torres or does he go with Jackson or give Vietto his starting debut. On the domestic front, Galatasaray havent exactly set the world alight. They lie 8th and 5 points behind arch-rivals Fenerbahce and joint leaders Trabzonspor. Atlético meanwhile are 6th and 3 points off Barca.
The longest trip of the group stage between these two as Benfica look to get through the group stage this season. Newcomers Astana will be out to frustrate and successfully did that against Maribor and APOEL in the qualifiers. Benfica however were in goal scoring mood over the weekend hitting Belenenses for 6 and could if given space do the same tonight. Benfica lie a point behind Porto domestically while Astana are a point behind Kairat Almaty in the race for the Kazakh title with a game in hand.

Group D:
Manchester City v Juventus
Sevilla v Borussia Monchengladbach

The group favorites clash in Manchester and given the form book it seems this tie is only going one way and that is a City win. Manchester City have, since being taken over by the sheikhs, been pathetic in this competition and almost every year it's "will this be the year?". The could make a statement tonight against the beaten finalists from last season but I do think Juventus will make it difficult.
A repeat of last season's 1st knockout tie in the Europa league. Borussia M'Gladbach have endured a nightmare start to their domestic campaign and sit bottom of the league while Sevilla haven't had a good start either and are still winless. A game that could kick a season for whoever emerges with the three points and I'd probably side with a home win in this.

An unexpected 2nd chance

The latest round of qualifiers for the European championships in 2016 offered Ireland a 2nd chance of qualification.
Back in June Scotland managed to claim a point in Dublin which gave them the better head-to-head record over Ireland so should the two sides finish level on points it will be the Scots who rank higher.
There were four games left before this double header of games and Ireland really did need a favor from somewhere. That somewhere turned out to be from Georgia. The Georgians have been a tricky opponents despite their results in this group. They were keeping Poland out for long periods in June while we needed an Aiden McGeady special late on to beat them in the 1st game.
Georgia ended up beating Scotland 1-0 thanks to Valeri Qazaishvili's control, turn and shot. The Scots looked out of ideas in trying to rescue a point but that win for Georgia gave Ireland an unexpected 2nd chance, which was taken. A comfortable 4-0 win over bottom side Gibraltar meant Ireland climbed a point clear.
3 days later Scotland hosted Germany and Ireland hosted Georgia. Scotland were not expected to get anything out of their game while pressure was very much on Ireland to get three massive points. Scotland gave Germany a very good go, pegging the world champions back twice before succumbing to a 3rd German goal for which there was no reply. Ireland meanwhile laboured to a narrow 1-0 win. Not a vintage performance at all from Ireland but enough to climb four points clear of Scotland with two games to play.

The final two games are in October and something will have to give. Scotland face Poland at home and Gibraltar away while Ireland have a much more difficult finish with Germany at home and Poland away.
It could very well be decided with the Scotland Poland game. If Scotland lose its over as Ireland will finish 3rd. Germany haven't qualified yet and will do with victory over Ireland. The picture gets a bit darker for Ireland should they lose and Scotland draw or win as it will put Scotland at least 3 points behind Ireland with Gibraltar still to play for the Scots while Ireland face a tricky looking game in Poland.
Of course a famous Irish win over Germany will end any doubt over Scotland while also propelling Ireland into the frame for automatic qualification with a winner take all clash with Poland to finish the group.

Trashings aplenty in Asia

World cup qualifying continued on Thursday afternoon in Asia with the 3rd match day of games in the 2nd round qualifying.
However this round of games featured some heavy beatings for some of the smaller footballing nations. Japan made no mistake this time by beating Cambodia 3-0 having drawn 0-0 with Singapore in June. Australia made light work of Bangladesh in a 5-0 stroll in Perth while Iraq put Chinese Taipei to the sword in a 6-1 success in Tehran.

However these were not the big beatings handed out. The biggest was Qatar's 15-0 romp of Bhutan in Doha. Bhutan caused a sensation earlier this year by overcoming Sri Lanka in the 1st round qualifying to reach this stage for the first time, but were dealt a cruel lesson by the ruthless Qataris. Bhutan were exposed time and time again as Qatar went for the jugular. 8-0 up at half-time the hosts added seven more in the 2nd half which leaves Bhutan routed to the bottom of group C with no points. Bhutan's previous two games were a 7-0 loss to Hong Kong and 6-0 reverse against China. They face the Maldives in October next.
While Qatar recorded the biggest win of the day, the United Arab Emiretes racked up a 10-0 win over Malaysia. Malaysia didn't help their caused with three different goalkeepers featuring as they remain routed to the bottom of group A with no points.
Kuwait were 9-0 winners over Myanmar who along with Laos prop up group G with a single point. Laos themselves were on the end of an 8-0 trashing by South Korea and Saudi Arabia were 7-0 winners of East Timor. Iran also recorded a big win just the six without reply against Guam.

It's scorelines like these that nobody really wants to see but it just shows the gulf in class between some of Asia's best sides and some of their poorer sides. The 2nd round continues until next March when the group winners and best runners-up go into the 3rd round group stage.

The game has gone mad

The start of this week saw the end of the transfer window cross Europe. Spain, Italy, France and Germany ended before the English window and it saw some movement with some ridiculous fees involved.

In Germany the deadline was dominated by the fallout from Kevin De Bruyne's massive £55 million. The German side then went and spent a chunk of that fee on Schalke's Julian Draxler. 

The fee for which De Bruyne went for is madness. Of course Wolfsburg are going to accept that, they would be mad not too really and have bought well with that money. The fact that Manchester City can go out and pay ridiculous fees for players is just going to drive up the price of players even further. 

Deadline day was at its most ridiculous in England, surprise, surprise. It wasn't just Manchester City who were spending ludicrous sums on players recently, across town United splashed €50 million on Monaco's Anthony Martial. A fee Monaco were delighted to say yes too and a fee that has got people debating if the player will be worth it. 

Martial himself is an attacker who can play center forward or out wide and was part of the Monaco side that reached the last 8 of last season's champions league and of this season's attempt to qualify. He was signed by Monaco for €5 million from Lyon's famed academy and in just two years he has seemingly done enough to secure a massive move to Manchester United. I am not doubting Martial is a talent but the fee is massive for a 19 year old to be weighed down with. Only time will tell if Martial at €50 million was money well spent. 

Staying with United, the David De Gea nonsense and it is nonsense was the big story late on Monday. Real Madrid were seemingly all set to finalise the transfer with Keylor Navas thrown in as a sweetner for United but then according to Madrid, United didn't send the paperwork in on time. A whole summer of will he won't he ended with De Gea bitterly disappointed and Navas left at a club that were prepared to discard him. A shambolic situation which now leaves two goalkeeper quiet unhappy. 

Speaking of unhappy players, West Brom's striker Saido Berahino is unhappy he didn't get his move to Tottenham and has now been given time off by West Brom. 

Non-English sides who spent ridiculous money seems to be Valencia. They spent a good chunk converting previously loan players into permanent transfers such as Álvaro Negredo (€30 million) and Rodrigo Moreno (€30 million). Valencia did splash big money this summer and time again will tell if they spent wisely. 

With the Premier League's new bumper TV deal set to kick in next season I have a feeling we will be seeing more insane transfer fees next summer from English clubs. This new TV deal will propel all 20 premier league clubs next season into the Top 30 richest clubs in the world which will give the likes of Bournemouth (if they stay up this season) a greater spending power than the likes of Ajax, Benfica and many other continental sides.