The Offside Power Rankings: February ‘09.

We had this idea to do a monthly power rankings and while discussing – quite literally in the middle of our conversation – an RSS feed popped up from Unprofessional Foul who had just released their first power rankings. After cursing them to eternal damnation we decided “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”, which is precisely what we’ve done. So like American college sports (AP & Coaches), we’ve unleashed a new rankings system comprised of dual barreled power rankings (they every other week and us monthly).

Their latest can be found here.

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.)

It wasn’t hastily thrown together, but also wasn’t planned as far in advance as hoped. Next time we’ll:

- Set the deadline on a weekday, not a Sunday night after games which enabled us to watch the lists magically morph throughout the weekend. A couple of examples: HSV was gettin’ some love before the weekend. After losing to lowly Karlsruhe on Sunday? Suddenly unloved. Then there was the Serie A swap, with Genoa dropping off lists altogether while Roma received more props after the two duked it out on Sunday.
- Schedule more recent Champions League fixtures so there is less speculating and more “well, so and so would beat so and so because they just did, duh”. That’s our fault. We’ve already called Michel and he’s on it.
- Give the bloggers a longer heads up. The turnout was still good but we know not everyone checks their email on a regular basis.
- We’ve canceled the Bundesliga winter break through the end of the season. You’re welcome.

Power Rankings

1. Barcelona
2. Manchester United
3. Internazionale
4. Liverpool
5. Real Madrid
6. Milan
7. Aston Villa
8. Juventus
9. Chelsea
10. Bayern Munich

Best of the rest: Hoffenheim, Roma, Lyon, AZ Alkmaar, Bordeaux.

Coming as a complete surprise to no one, Barca received 81% of the first place votes – the others went to ManU, of course. Barca never dropped below second while ManU fell down a spot or two a couple times.

Jack of the Chelsea Offside had the best idea: “Can I put Barca in the first five positions and United the final five?”

Sounds about right, yeah?

Some things which were noticed:

• Bipolar I award: Milan. Mostly they were either top five or hanging on to the bottom spot for their lives, failing every so often. Perhaps the Becks effect isn’t quite as large as the media would have you believe.
• Bipolar II award: The post-German moustachioed Real Madrid. They were largely either third in the list or somewhere around 7th/8th. 7-0-1 (that “1″ being to a certain Catalan team) since Juande took over. They’re en fuego, man.
• Consistently good but not quite that good award: Liverpool. Fourth, fifth or sixth probably 95% of the time. Sums them up quite nicely.
• If Luca Toni is given his (legal and deserved) goal against HSV and Bayern draw – or even use momentum and a potential shift in tactics for the win – do they rocket up the rankings? Maybe. It’s certainly a theory.
• Does Villa beat Juventus and/or Bayern right now? Discuss. (No need to discuss Chelsea, they’re playing each other next.)
• AZ Alkmaar needs more love. They’ve won their last ten, conceded one goal and haven’t lost since September 13th, while only drawing two of 20 since then. They’re flipping phenomenal.

Now’s the chance to tear ‘em down or build ‘em up and give us your top ten. And don’t forget to check out Unprofessional Foul’s sometime tomorrow.

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Category: Power Rankings, World Football