The Offside Power Rankings: April ‘09.

Barca, Barca, BARCA.

No surprises to be found here, ladies and gents. Europe’s best team has rejuvenated enough following their little bout of fatigue to lap the field in the latest edition of the Power Rankings. Hell, they might’ve lapped ‘em twice. And this despite our rankings extending from last Monday through Friday, meaning the ManU/Liverpool train was still running strong at the top Monday and Tuesday. I suspect the Blaugrana suits hacked our accounts and posted the early rankings on the Camp Nou bulletin board. Our apologies, Jurgen.

Eventually we’ll remove this little bit but for the newbies and to remind those who are currently training for Monday’s holiday festivities, here are the rules:

Method:

We asked each of the team bloggers to submit their top ten lists of “who would beat whom” based on class and current form. Each position was given a point total (10 for 1st, 9 for 2nd, 8 for 3rd, etc.) and then we tallied the points. The rest is pretty self-explanatory. Basic stuff.
The only other rule was one could not vote for the team they represent at The Offside, just to keep out the hometown favoritism (mostly).
(And it’s not Europe-exclusive, thought it may look that way.)

Given that our voting extended through a Champions League weekday, a few trends unsurprisingly popped up:

• Losing 5-1 to Wolfsburg didn’t seem to dent the faith in Bayern, but the 4-0 thumping by Barca sure as hell did.
• Nobody was impressed by Villarreal before they drew Arsenal at home; nobody was impressed by Villarreal after they drew Arsenal at home.
• Somewhat disappointingly, it took three (alright – one) Champions League draws – not wins, draws – for people to sit up and notice Porto, who’ve gone undefeated since November 1st. They’re quite good you know.
• Branislav Ivanovic may have kept Liverpool out of the top two – yet another reason for Reds fans to hate him.
• Manchester United’s hiccup nearly cost them a slot in the top two as well. Or maybe they, along with the Chelsea fandom, should be thanking Branislav as well.

This month’s rankings, with the number in parenthesis last month’s ranking, and those making their debuts feating a (NA):

1. Barcelona (4)
2. Manchester United (1)
3. Liverpool (7)
4. Chelsea (5)
5. Inter (2)
6. Real Madrid (3)
7. Porto (NA)
8. Arsenal (NA)
9. Wolfsburg (NA)
10. Juventus (6)

Best of the rest: Bayern, AZ, HSV.

Normally we do five or so for Best of the Rest but this month no one but the aforementioned three had enough votes to make it worth it. Strange month I’d say.

Wolfsburg are Germany’s current representative as favorites for the title nobody wants to win – and I’m not quite sure what that says about the Bundesliga this year. Good, but not that good? Sounds about right – though it is the most compelling of the current league title races. Wolfsburg lead the league at the moment but they might very well wind up out of Europe, it’s been that topsy-turvy (just ask last month’s rep Hertha).

As for the rest…very unsurprising, which I suppose means it all worked out in the end.

That’s surprising in itself, actually.

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Category: Power Rankings