It's been a while

Staind-It's Been A While

Yessir, keeping this yoke up-to-date is tough going. Well, not really. If I spend less time reading what other people think and committed more of my own musings to the blogsphere, there would be more frequent updates.

How and ever......

Chelsea certainly have hit a rough patch. No win in 4 games (1 loss, 1 loss on penalty kicks, 2 draws), a lot of questions about their defence and goalkeeper, and the loss of Michael Essien for 4 weeks or longer have certainly made me less sure of things than I was up to a month ago. They got a huge break at the weekend, when, having failed to put away Everton when leading on 2 separate occasions, Sir Alex Ferguson went conservative at home to Villa and Chelsea actually gained a point in the Premier League race. To be fair, the latest setback to Everton had a element of fluke about it-the 1st and 3rd goals were certainly fortunate, and even the 2nd goal was a bit odd-how often would you expect to find Ricardo Carvalho lying prostate on the 6 yard line? In truth, other than the defeat to Man City, none of these results have made much of a difference-I'm not sorry to see them out of the Carling Cup, and the draw against Apoel Nicosia didn't deny them the top spot in their Champions League Group. So, I hope that this is the rocky patch that any team tends to encounter in the course of the season. Still, I would have been happier if it happened in January, when there would be good reasons to expect a dip in form.

One encouraging point in this average run of form is the potential I have seen in Gael Kakuta-he may have been worth the hassle after all. He certainly can pick a pass, and always looks like he can make something happen. Still a bit raw for sure, but a potentially dynamic and creative force at the apex of Carlo's diamond in the near future. With Mikel and Essien absent in January, we might get to see more of him, and the 'big' summer signing Yuri Zhirkov (who has featured in recent games), potentially in a FA Cup tie. I will be watching with interest.

Liverpool appear to be in bad shape-even with Torres and Gerrard back in the starting XI, they could not hold a half-time lead to Arsenal at the weekend and now find themselves 5 points off the final Champions League Qualifying spot (with no prospect of entering as winners this year....). Rafa Benitez certainly appears in no hurry to unleash Alberto Aquilani, but when you have Lucas Leiva, why would you? It's hard to believe that Liverpool will miss out on 4th spot (heck, I even fancied them for 3rd before Sunday), but then you see that Man City can't defend (it's amazing they have only lost once but have drawn over 50% of their games) and Spurs are, well Spurs. Villa look just ok-they were fortunate enough to beat Chelsea (well, maybe not, just about anyone can score from a dead ball situation against Chelsea this season), and have had some odd results (home loss to Wigan, away defeats to Blackburn and West Ham), and like Man City, draw too many games. For now, they are the front runners for 4th, but there is a long way to go.

World Cup 2010 draw took place (with only 32 teams included), and yes, we have some interesting groups. The 2 current African powerhouses, Ivory Coast and Ghana, have good chances to take out waning (Portugal) and rising (Serbia) European powers, and make their mark against former winners (Brazil and Germany). England will have nothing to fear in their group, but isn't that when it all starts to go wrong? In defeating Russia, Slovenia should give them something to think about, and the USA will certainly give it a go. Their nightmare scenario? An unlikely series of results leading to a 2nd round clash against Germany. Spain have what appears to be a straightforward enough 1st round, but after that, may find Portugal and Italy on their path to the semi-final. Ireland or no Ireland, I'm looking forward to it-with many half-days planned.