Moudrid Should Bench Their Bipolarity

This year there have been 2 different Real Madrid teams. The uncertain, unconvincing Real Madrid that has trouble scoring without referee assistance and a fast, powerful squad that robs the ball in the midfield and charges towards goal with incredible velocity over and over again. You could call it the Madrid del Mourinhato vs. the Once de la Alegria

Madrid del Mourinhato showed it's head early in the season, from Madrid's preseason games in July (and narrow win over the LA Galaxy in August) until the end of September.

In October, the Once de la Alegria exploded onto the scene. Madrid started blowing out lesser competition with 6-0 score lines. They were impressive and many, including me, thought they were the best Real team in the last 12-14 years. But then they ran into Barcelona.

Barcelona's 5-0 drubbing of Real showed the weakness of the Merengues and set them back for at least  2 months. Madrid didn't immediately lose to many points - but they should have. There were numerous games when Mourinhato Madrid made the most of it's Most-Favored-Team status with the arbitros. Even in the games that they won Mourinhato Madrid looked horrible. At the midpoint in the season, Villareal was playing  much better than Madrid.

Recently, victories over Real Sociedad, Levante and especially over Espanyol (when Iker Casillas was sent off  in minute 2) made it seem like the Once de la Alegria was back. Now with a new striker, Emmanuel Adebayor, they'd be able to keep pace with world-beating Barcelona.

I don't think that's the case. There are still too many problems in the Casa Blanca (the White House) of Madrid. In my mind if the Merengues want to make a league of it, they need to stick with their best  personnel. Here's what they need to do.

• Always start Emmanuel Adebayor. Keep Benzema on the bench. The team plays much better with Adebayor on the field.
• Keep Kaka on the bench. He's got horrible form and his presence means a valuable Real playmaker (Ozil, Di Maria, Granero) will have less opportunity. Addition by subtraction here.
• Generate free kicks for CR7. His goals from balon parado are crucial for Madrid to get the lead and  keep it. 
• Play Marcelo. Whether as Left Back or in the midfield, he's one of Real's most dynamic players and he opens the field for everyone else.
• Always play Xabi Alonso. No one else can give form to the attack the same way.
• Give Pepe some tranquilizers instead of stimulants before the game. As long as Pepe can keep his cool, the center of Madrid's defense, with Pepe and Carvalho, is solid. When the bald baller loses his head, he's a liability to his team.
• Stop diving and whining. Play soccer.

That's it. I think if Mourinho stuck with the personnel mentioned above, he'd keep the "alegria." Switch it up to try to rotate players in and Real's title hopes will go up in smoke. Every time Madrid has tried to rotate, they've paid the price the poor play. They might win more than their fair share thanks to the refs, but that won't be enough to win titles.

Here's a lighthearted pop-up video view of the acting that regularly takes place in the Mourinhato

Adebayor: Mourinho's Best Mid-Season Signing

Jose Mourinho knew it from the start. He needed another striker. At the beginning of the year, he had the opportunistic Argentine Gonzalo Higuain and a talented-but-lazy Karim Benzema. When Higuain went down, Mourinho must have strung together a string of Portuguese-accented-Spanish curses to make the Virgin Mary's ears ring.

Mourinho had known he needed another striker and now his worst fears were confirmed. He must have made Sporting Director Jorge Valdano's ears ring as well. Throughout the first month of the transfer period, Mourinho repeatedly brought up the need for a striker in the press. The Special One is not shy, so I can only imagine that he did the same in person.

Finally, the executives at Real Madrid listened to Mourinho, they brought in Emmanuel Adebayor and he's been a bargain.

Adebayor has a lot of qualities that make him good for Real: he's fast, he's a big target, he hustles, he's usually in very good position, he finishes well and he doesn't try to do too much.

In fact, his last quality may be his most valuable. Watch Adebayor play and you'll see that in 80-90% of balls played to him, he keeps the play going. This is in stark contrast to Karim Benzema, who is often nowhere to be found or who will blow a clear shot on goal.

By keeping plays alive, the tall (6'4") Togolese creates more opportunities for CR7, Di Maria and Ozil. With players of this quality, that's a winning proposition.

Adebayor is usually in good position, too. He sets up onside with his back to goal where he can turn and shoot or easily set up the pull-back for one of Madrid's fine forwards or midfielders. He's no Ronaldo (Nazario da Lima) and he knows it; if he gets the ball too close to midfield with numerous defenders back in coverage, he passes off and let's Xabi Alonso, Ozil or CR7 advance the pelota.

Finally, Adebayor can score! The tall man has the cool confidence to put the ball in the back of the net. He's not afraid of success. And, with CR7 and Di Maria serving him opportunity after opportunity, that's a good thing.

I'm not sure which Madrid executive made the decision to sign Adebayor, but I'm going to give the credit to Jose Mourinho. If I was at Real, I'd listen to the Special One and sign Adebayor for years to come. Then, I'd start him every game until Higuain comes back. Personally, I think it's Madrid's only hope for a title.

Barcelona 3 - Atletico de Madrid 0: Too Many Superlatives

Barcelona erased Atletico from the field of play Saturday night and set yet another record in the process. Barca have won 16 straight in the league - a record that trumps the record of 15 straight wins set by the Real Madrid of Di Stefano's era. Considering that La Liga is a much more competitive place in today's era, that's an amazing record.

Last year's Barcelona set it's fair share of records, yet I still felt that the Barca of the 08-09 season, Pep Guardiola's first, was the best Barca ever - and best soccer club ever. The trident of Messi, Eto'o, and Henry was just too effective for me to rate an Ibrahimovic-led Barca higher. Then came the 2010-2011 season.

This season's FC Barcelona is the best soccer club I've ever seen. They're rolling over strong, effective clubs as if they didn't exist. Somehow it seems that they're playing on cruise control, as if they were the Harlem Globetrotters sent to put on show against the local team from Bufu, Renada - population 2,106. They've already broken their share of records and they're sure to break more.

Here are a few other things that are amazing about this year's FC  Barcelona club:

• Their powerful trident of Messi, Villa and Pedro has 50 goals in the Spanish league - more than Real Madrid's  48 - which  is the second most prolific team in the league.
• Messi, Villa and Pedro have scored 76 goals in all competitions and are on pace to wipe away the record of 100 set over the course of a whole season by Messi, Eto'o and Henry.
• Every (non-goalkeeper) player on Barcelona has scored this year with the exception of Javier Mascherano. It's a good bet that he'll score sooner or later this year.
• Barca's second team: the one that includes Pinto, Adriano, Maxwell, Milito, Mascherano, Thiago, Afellay, Bojan and Nolito - is amazing. They're playing almost as well as the starting lineup.The ability to make rotations with a relatively small squad  is one of the greatest strengths of this club.

Fernando Torres Now Plays For Chelsea

You probably already know that Fernando Torres was transferred from Liverpool to Chelsea. It was, without a doubt, the blockbuster signing of the winter.

European newscast have bubbled over with scenes of fans purchasing blue jerseys with the number 9 on the back. Just in case you didn't know how excited Chelsea fans were about this transfer, one fan has made a song about it. To the tune of Frankie Valli's, "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" here's the Fernando Torres Song.



Oh, be sure to read the comments - they're almost as entertaining as the song.