Changing Landscape

This end of football season in the European leagues looks set to be the watershed to the impending massive changes to bestow upon them next year. With the great SAF retiring, Man Utd will be under a new manager after 27 years. But the winds of change have affected many other European powerhouses as well; in England, Chelsea looks set for the second coming of Mourinho and Pellegrini has apparently been given the reins at Man City. The best 3 teams in England will be under new leaders. In Italy, Milan is on the verge of getting rid of Allegri after a so-so first season. Inter are on the look-out for a new coach as well. In Spain, the much-maligned Mourinho has finally been booted out of Madrid, to the delight of Spanish fans in general. Malaga will also look for a new manager after the departure of Pellegrini. In Germany, Guardiola is taking over the powerful Bayern Munich. Finally, so far, in France, PSG are looking to replace want-away Ancelotti for whom Real Madrid came calling.

We are talking here of 8 big teams that played in this year's Champions League. This is bound to affect not only their domestic leagues but next year's dynamics in the UCL as well. It is too early to say whether teams like Barcelona will have the advantage of continuity with them. After all, much of it will depend on player personnel as well. Rooney looks to be out of Man Utd, Dortmund will be losing some key players, Real Madrid is already working on their list of surplus to requirements. And probably more importantly, Neymar will make his European debut, quite possibly under a Barcelona shirt.

English football itself is moving into a new era with the retirement of Scholes, Beckham and Owen. While their careers were already on the wane for the past few years, there is no doubt that their names are etched forever in England folklore for their contributions to the game. They were some of the finest to ever don a Lions shirt and have made their indelible mark.

The carousel round of managers and players will make for a hectic transfer summer season . A new dawn of football will start in August. The retired ones will be missed but football will hold its intrigue more than ever.

Clear out

Both Manchester teams kicked out of the Champions League at the group stage! While City beat Bayern, albeit with futility, the Red Devils were beaten and KO'd in Basle.

There is no doubt which part of Manchester is hurting the most right now. The words at Old Trafford must be Clear Out! If the Carling Cup defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace must have started the clearing process, yesterday's defeat in Switzerland will most certainly have upped the urgency! I have a feeling that a lot of names, big or small, will not come back after next Summer after this disastrous exit from the Champions League.

The problem yesterday though was mostly Rooney. His mind is clearly not in his football since his family's scam accusation problems. How many goals has he scored since they were made public? One measly goal... On his best form, he would have scored at least 2 yesterday.

The other obvious problem at Utd is the injury list. There was no Chicharito, Berbatov or Owen to bail out the severely depleted attack. The only real playmaker of the team, Cleverley, was also out. One cannot help but ask if Sneijder would have filled beautifully in that spot, only if he had been signed!

However, in the end, the manager mostly always gets it right and although the ship is showing serious signs of sinking, Sir Alex Ferguson has proven to have the magic touch to bring it up again.

Man City for the title, as I have been writing, looks very cozy at the moment though.Very cozy indeed.

They are back!

7 winners out of 8 over the week-end; Everton failed at home to Stoke while the rest of the selections won. Very frustrating not to hit a perfect score on this one; Stoke are just playing spoilers and it's hard to gauge their actual form going into a game. Suffice to say it's better to stay away from Mowbray's men.

Very much the expected statu quo as far as the major European league tables are concerned. In the EPL, Man Utd clang on to the 5-point deficit to City after the Citizens had thrashed Norwich. However, they lost Chicharito in the process, which might make life a little difficult for Sir Alex Ferguson given that he's already without Berbatov and Owen for a while.

In La Liga, both Real and Barcelona won against minnows, and it's this coming week-end's Clasico that will play a major role in the destiny of the title. I'll get to the game in due time.

There are 2 events of note that took my attention over the week-end and they were not football related. The first one is Tiger's first PGA Tour win in 2 years. It looks like he's finally back and that should set him up very nicely for next year. A dominant Tiger is one of the best recommendations in Major tournaments.

Talking of dominance, Igugu, the South African superstar filly made her return to the tracks on Sunday, and it was a winning one as well. This followed the winning return a few days before, of another superstar filly in Ebony Flyer, who cantered home easily after months off the track due to an operation. According to Team Valor supremo, Barry Irwin, she's the best filly he's ever had; better than Ipi Tombe, kind of scary to think of it! Ebony Flyer did beat Igugu before, so she's the real deal. At 17.1 hands, she's even more imposing than Zenyatta. Igugu/Ebony Flyer, 2 fillies to follow closely in this coming South African racing season.

Week-end preview

Good old club football is back after the boring international friendlies. Just need to make sure that the selections are not affected by the disruption of the 2-week break and most importantly, from injuries.

In the EPL, Man City should overcome Newcastle at home. The Magpies are still unbeaten at this stage and re the surprise package of the first half of the season. However, they will be missing a few starting players like Tiote in midfield and Best in attack. Man City can play 2 teams as their depth in squad is pretty much unparalleled in the Premiership. The team is so potent that goals can come from anywhere. I recommend Man City as a strong draw-no-bet.

Man Utd visit Swansea and should be able to keep up the pressure on neighbours City. Although they will be without Cleverley, Wellbeck and Owen, the fringe players can easily add their bit to the team. I don't expect this game to be a goal fest but I see the Red Devils edging this out at the end. It won't be easy for them, but they should have too much class for the hosts. I recommend Man Utd as a draw-no-bet as well.

In Spain, Barcelona should have no problem to overcome Zaragoza at home. Already trailing Real Madrid by 3 points, it will be important for Messi and co to get maximum points at the Nou Camp. They are an easy Win recommendation. The Los Blancos face an arguably tough task visiting third-place Valencia, who happen to be unbeaten at home so far. This is the kind of game where there is value backing Mourinho's team as a draw-no-bet. I see them getting at least a point from this match, and should they get the 3 points, they would have successfully removed a giant obstacle on their path to the title.

In Germany, it's the top match between Dortmund and Munich. Bayern lost their influential midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger recently and it will be interesting to see how it affects their dynamic. This game is too close to call although the hosts clearly have the advantage of home soil. Rather, I will focus on the Schalke-Nurnberg and Stuttgart-Augsburg matches where the hosts look to be enjoying a massive home advantage and are thus recommended as strong draw-no-bets.

Win: Barcelona
Draw-no-bet: Man City, Man Utd, Real Madrid, Schalke, Stuttgart