Jurgen Klinsmann has taken up the manager's post at Bayern München. He'll succeed Otzmar Hitzfeld at the end of the season. It means that Herr Klinsmann has ruled himself out of the Newcastle post, vacant after Sam Allardyce was fired on Wednesday.
The English league cup is at its semi-final stage. Chelsea beat Everton 1:0, Arsenal and Tottenham drew 1:1. Return matches are in two weeks. Two upsets in Round 4, Leg 1 of the Spanish cup: Huelva - Villarreal 1:0 (34) and Mallorca - Real Madrid 2:1 (44).
Rangers are beginning to face something of a fixture backlog. Their match against Gretna was postponed in November to allow the Scottish national side a week-end to prepare for their Euro '08 qualifier against Italy. Then the match against St. Mirren was postponed ahead of the European League qualifier. The game against Celtic on 2 January was also held off, following the death of former Celtic player Phil O'Donnell. Last Tuesday's re-arranged fixture against St. Mirren was postponed again, a waterlogged pitch this time. The make-up dates are 16 January against Gretna, 23 January against Celtic, and a date to be confirmed against St. Mirren. The Celtic date is contingent on both sides beating (or losing to) lower-division opposition at the first attempt in this week-end's cup matches.
League 1
LYN 1135 79.7 -28 -0.35 BDX 1072 80.5 29 0.36 NCY 1040 85.1 -12 -0.14 NIC 1032 83.4 30 0.36 MAR 1012 78.3 28 0.36 CAE 1007 90.2 41 0.45 LOR 1006 85.2 54 0.63 LEM 1001 85.0 - 5 -0.06 VCN 984 84.4 -22 -0.26 PSG 978 83.7 15 0.18 LEN 963 80.1 -37 -0.46 AUX 959 84.1 -18 -0.21 MON 959 82.9 -21 -0.25 LIL 928 84.9 - 1 -0.01 STR 926 92.8 15 0.16 TOU 926 77.0 70 0.91 SET 925 85.1 -24 -0.28 REN 899 78.9 -38 -0.48 SCX 882 83.5 - 8 -0.10 MTZ 824 92.3 -58 -0.63 SED (II) 958 124.1 57 0.46 NTS (II) 921 122.4 0 0.00 TRY (II) 845 126.0 0 0.00
Changes are against 2 December. The French league is falling into place, the sides at the top moving ahead, the sides at the bottom dropping. Toulouse is climbing well, and would have moved by almost 1.2 RD if they hadn't lost to Paris FC (IV) in the cup last week-end. We'll keep on noting it, because Toulouse has just one win from 12 cup matches this year, and that's rubbish.
Division A
RAN 1013 83.0 19 0.23 CEL 947 82.1 -51 -0.62 ABD 916 78.1 14 0.18 FAL 818 81.2 103 1.27 MTW 817 82.7 29 0.35 ICT 785 81.2 71 0.87 DDU 761 83.4 -55 -0.66 HBS 725 83.8 -76 -0.91 STM 697 86.7 45 0.52 HRT 685 80.4 -106 -1.32 KLM 684 81.9 -27 -0.33 GRE 581 95.9 54 0.56 DNF (II) 640 125.7 0 0.00 LVG (II) 627 151.7 0 0.00
Changes are against 2 December. Rangers have made a clear run for the top, but will fixture congestion harm their bid? Falkirk and Inverness have advanced over the festive period, with Hearts and Hibs falling off the pace.
