Division I clubs have announced provisional plans to play a 39th round of matches, outside the UK. Extending the season in this way is a blatant cash grab, will do nothing to improve the quality of the game, and can only cause further congestion to an already overcrowded schedule. We will require a lot of convincing to treat these matches as anything other than mid-season friendlies, fit only to be ignored, just as we already treat the charity community shield. The Sports Economist has an interesting take: this could be a device to engineer a court case between Division I and FIFA over whether the national boundaries have any significance any more.
Upsets
45 Manchester Buccaneers - Manchester City 1:2 37 Stuttgart - Hertha Berlin 1:3 37 Larissa - AEK Athens 1:0 37 Empoli - Lazio 1:0 36 Barnsley - West Bromwich Albion 2:1 34 Espanyol - Recreativo Huelva 1:2 33 Cardiff City - Norwich City 1:2 31 Hapoel Tel Aviv - Maccabi Petah Tikva 2:1 30 Osasuna - Zaragoza 1:0
It was only a matter of time before Hertha returned to winning ways, and to do so against the (surely former) league champions is the mark of a quality side. The top two met in Germany, with Bayern München and Werder Bremen drawing 1:1 in one of the worst games it's been our misfortune to see this year. Schalke 04 won 3:2 at Borussia Dortmund to consolidate third place. No upsets in France, where the vagaries of the schedule mean that Lyon has drawn level with Bordeaux. Real Madrid announced their intentions in Spain, beating Valladolid 7:0. In the battle of foreign sides, CSKA Kensington and the Liverpool Stadiennes drew 0:0 in a match that made Bayern - Werder look gripping. And Inter Milan won again, taking their ranking to 1311.
Division II
STK 843 76.0 7 0.09 CHA 833 76.9 17 0.22 WBA 820 75.8 -18 -0.24 WAT 812 76.4 -10 -0.13 BRC 804 79.4 -24 -0.30 CPL 782 76.8 -10 -0.13 HUL 779 77.7 14 0.18 CDF 778 75.9 - 5 -0.07 SFU 769 76.4 8 0.10 IPS 753 76.9 - 1 -0.01 WLV 753 76.1 - 1 -0.01 QPR 747 77.7 29 0.37 PLY 746 75.6 -25 -0.33 BNL 740 77.2 26 0.34 BAN 736 75.8 - 5 -0.07 PNE 736 76.7 48 0.63 NOR 731 77.8 53 0.68 SOT 723 76.1 -20 -0.26 LEI 693 76.0 2 0.03 BPL 689 77.6 6 0.08 COV 686 76.6 -30 -0.39 SFW 674 76.0 -33 -0.43 CCR 653 79.5 5 0.06 SCU 608 82.4 7 0.08 LEE (III) 692 114.2 -50 -0.44 SEN (III) 680 107.8 6 0.06 LUT (III) 677 113.0 0 0.00 MIL (III) 596 116.0 - 7 -0.06 CRW (III) 568 129.0 -59 -0.46 BRI (III) 541 119.9 50 0.42
Changes are against 6 January. Is this the only table that Stoke will head this year? Quite possibly. The only big moves are Preston and Norwich, as much a reversion to their means after early-season disasters.
Tables |
