Daily Dose.: 3.8.08

"“Is Roma…..British?”.

*grin* Oh, they'd WISH, wouldn't they.

I felt the exact same way regarding the apocalyptic La Liga pieces, which is part of the reason I linked to them (I'll admit it, I'm not always going for quality, this DD stuff can take forever). One relatively poor year means the end of good football? Journalism is evolving from "what have you done for me lately?" to "screw the last five minutes, what have you done for me while I'm writing this sentence?".

And roswitha, I copied one of the last paragraphs, pasted it into a future Roma doc with the headline underneath "Is Roma.....British?". Which is fairly absurd, but appears to be the inclination, as you say.

Tavis, we like your stuff. Keep it up.

I don't think that piece about Spain's failures to keep up with Europe [and hell, in spite of his mentioning Roma I think we can take it for granted that he means 'the EPL'] but I don't think he's looking in the right places. There really isn't anything wrong with slow-build ups and possession play, as Milan demonstrated very successfully in last year's CL. Winning should be a consequence of good, confident football. Roma had it; Arsenal had it; Barca in the first leg had it; Real didn't.

I do a little jig every time my site gets a link. Thanks.

The doomsaying about Spain cracks me up. Barca won the Champions League two years ago. Sevilla won the last two UEFA Cups. It's an off year this season for sure, but that's all. Aside from Real Madrid, who do have a serious European problem, I really don't see an epidemic of failure sweeping over La Liga. If Barcelona get Messi back healthy, they're still the favorite in the CL for my money.