Plethora; meaning: a surplus, an overabundance of something, to have many choices, an embarrassment, excess…

Attempting to bring trophies to the Bernabue for the first time since 2008, Jose “The Translator” Mourinho has quietly gone about bolstering his squad with the signings of Carvalho, Ozil, Canales, Khadeira and Leon.  The Madrid squad finally has a feeling of depth.

However, Mourinho might have a wee problem in his ever crowded midfield. At last count, there are 14 midfielders in the first team squad… too much of a good thing Mr Mourinho?

Let’s list them down shall we:

Gago, Diarra, Kaka (although his injury has made a hash of his “I’ll be the best player in the WORLD again” proclamations), Ronaldo, Lass Diarra, Granero, Alonso, Drenthe (who? Hehehe), Canales, Leon, Di Maria, Khadeira, Ozil and van Der Vaart.

We can have a whole football team with 3 subs with the midfielders at his disposal. I am foreseeing some (Dutch) discontent and many an unhappy player. Aside from Canales and Leon (who would actually walk into most of the La Liga sides) who really have age on their side, the rest would be fighting a battle to slot into 2 slots at most.

There would not be any question that Ronaldo will start when fit. Alonso would also be an automatic starter. Assuming Mourinho goes for the 4-2-3-1 formation; Alonso would be partnering Lass Diarra/Granero in midfield. That leaves another two slots for the 3 in the above formation. Attack would probably be Higuain. Benzema only when the Copa del Rey comes around.

So you have van der Vaart, Ozil, Di Maria, Canales, and maybe Leon (who impressed in pre-season) to fight for two slots.

I’d probably go for Ozil and Di Maria (Mourinho signings) with Canales and Leon (Spanish- they’re en vogue now aren’t they? Something about winning the World Cup?) as back-up.

This would leave van der Vaart going through his yearly I want first team football phases. He’ll probably stay and show up the others… he’s just made like that this van Der Vaart fellow…  

Gago, should just retire from football, while Drenthe should actually learn to play football. As for Khadeira, he’ll play a couple of alright games before being found out and goes back to Germany next season.

Balotelli has some Tiramisu...

Manchester City v FC Timisoara may not be the European tie that the Sheikhs of City had envisioned when they were dreaming of European dominance. But it is a start.
Tentative at the start, less tentative after the restart. That sums up City’s approach to the tie. Mario Balotelli scoring within 15 minutes of his debut shows that the boy has class. Playing wide left with Adebayor in the centre and Tevez playing off Adebayor, Balotelli made enough of an impact to show both sides of his character.
Brilliantly calm to slot in Adebayor’s drilled cross-shot, he showed glimpses of his “youthful petulance” to be booked after a clash with Tiramisu’s captain Dan Alexa.
33 minutes – 1 goal, 1 yellow card, 1 possible injury…
Oh did I mention that Balotelli lay prostrate behind the goal after the final whistle… We expect a physio heavy week ahead for Super Mario.

Make mine natural...

Blame it on the Astroturf ‘Arry…

3-2 to Young Boys of Berne (you can’t help but stifle a laugh at the mention of the Swiss club) cannot be said to be a bad result for The Boys of Spurs. Redknapp was scathing about the artificial surface but what should really worry him is his team’s inability to function as a cohesive unit, just 4 days after their swashbuckling display against City.

In Redknapp’s defence, his reasoning that leaving out four players who started the City game due to injury concerns was valid. Astroturf is just not natural is it?

Article 13.08 of UEFA's Champions League regulations states as follows:

 "With the exception of the final, which must be played on natural turf, matches in the competition may be played on artificial turf in accordance with the UEFA stadium infrastructure regulations and provided that such artificial turf meets the FIFA recommended 2-star standard.”

Why the double standards UEFA? Someday some hack from some far away land would probably initiate legal proceedings in the European Court against the use of Astroturf in lieu of grass on Champions League pitches due to the fact that it constitutes an unsafe working environment.

Back to Spurs

Redknapp has always had a reputation as a wheeler dealer (Marc Rieper, Slaven Bilic, and Marco Boogers) from his West Ham days.

So the news of Gallas about to sign isn’t a huge surprise and it would be a huge improvement from Bassong. A “partnership” (if Gallas ever does partnerships) with Dawson/King (when he’s fit)/Woodgate (is he still alive?) would greatly enhance Spurs chances of survival (I actually meant advancing in Europe/consolidating their top 4 position).

However, it escapes me how Niko Kranjcar did not start against Young Boys. His introduction in the second-half made a telling difference as he could actually grasp the ebb and flow of the game. Spurs had looked too hurried too often in the first half.

It’s fine and dandy to give the game a go and play an all out English game, harrying, running and punting. But the lack of European smarts might be Spurs’ downfall this season, even if they qualify for the group stages.

If they do get knocked out, at least ‘Arry can blame the Astroturf…

When they couldn't even catch a cold....

A string of calamitous goalkeeping errors made the opening weekend of the EPL an entertaining one, if not for the fans at least for the cliche heavy commentators.

After a long arduous June - July where the fatigue of the World Cup had incessantly crept in, the Premier League finally returned, albeit with a mixed bag of nuts in its first week of action....

Mr James.... You've got company...

As Pepe Reina and Tim Howard cost both sides of the Mersey to lose early season points with their David James impersonations, two of England's vintages of the Mclaren era couldn't resist a chance to prove how completely and utterly rubbish Mclaren was and probably is at picking English players. Maybe (and just maybe) Kirkland can blame the departure of Titus "Mr Reliable" Bramble for his performance. Either that or he enjoys being the sole receipant of Wigan's Mr Liability Award this Season. Nothing good can be said of the gap-toothed wonder who supposedly plays in goal for West Brom. I just think Carson wants the reel of How-Not-to-Position-Yourself-As-a-Goalkeeper DVD all to himself...

The boy's all Hart
The former Head-Boy had with Birmingham shown why he is rated as one of the best keepers in the English game (after matchday one's performances, it's not hard to see why). But it took a plucky non-scarfed Roberto Mancini to pencil Hart's name ahead of Given. Hart played a blinder and Given has thrown his toys out of the pram..

Aside from Hart, City's bunch of mercenaries brought together by a promise of cash had a poor first outing. The midfield was too far down the field and I still can't figure out where David Silva was playing.

But with Bolatelli and Milner having just signed, City have a formidable squad of individuals. Unless Mr Mancini gets it right (insert no "I" in team speech here), City will continue to be nothing more than a collection of very wealthy footballers.

Team on a budget? Who cares... they have Ian Holloway

£10,000.00!!! That's the weekly salary cap at Blackpool. That's even less than what perma-crocked Rio Ferdinand earns in a day.

The scoreline didn't flatter Blackpool but has confirmed the suspicion that Wigan are as woeful as ever (even after discarding Bramble).

The only disappointing thing about the win was the lack of Ollie-sque quotes from Ollie himself. Well, there's still a long way to go...

Old habits die hard...

The old adage that form is temporary while class is permanent is a rather tired one... As cliches go, Paul Scholes' performance against Newcastle just goes to prove that you can't teach old dogs new tricks. They just repeat the same old trick over and over again... but my oh my, what tricks these old dogs get up to...

The win aside, Manchester United clearly need the following:

1. A replacement for Scholes (you cant' expect to see him pinging 60 yard balls like that when he's 45 do you?)

2. Better finishing; and

3. A plane to get Wayne Rooney back from South Africa...

Welcome once again...

I've missed you. All of you. I've missed our almost nightly dalliances, I've missed the passion you've brought into my life.

Welcome back.

In this Blog, I shall attempt to review the weekly games of mainly the English Premier League and on occasions the La Liga as well as Serie A and Ligue Un...

Due to the Anglo-centric nature of my upbringing, it would only be fair to give precedence to the League in England.

But, I'll give it my best anyway... here's to a good long season ahead and many more posts...