My goal when I started was to write 2-3 posts per week on anything that I was passionate about and to [...] No related posts.]]>

Exactly one year ago, I decided to start the Sports Opinionated blog over on Blogger.com.  The goal was to give myself a creative outlet to express my many views on sports, whether misguided or fact-based. 

My goal when I started was to write 2-3 posts per week on anything that I was passionate about and to keep it up for at least a year.  That way, I could find my writing niche and ensure I still liked writing after committing to it for that long.  Obviously I wanted to pick up some readers and contacts with other writers along the way, which has turned out better than I had hoped for.

We didn’t exactly celebrate with cake and champagne here at S-O headquarters (aka my house) but we did hit up a beer and barbeque some sausage, which is much more appropriate anyway.

At this point, I can honestly say that writing about sports is something that feels natural to me.  Maybe it’s because I’m just a loud-mouthed former jock who needs to feel like a couch-GM or possibly I’m such a sports-obsessed fan that it further fuels my biggest hobby.  It’s probably both.

Regardless, I can say at this point that writing about hockey, football and soccer are all in my wheelhouse and I’ll definitely keep it up.  That said, there may be a few changes coming here at S-O to help the readers find only the genre of sports they like most, since I realize that it’s a bit of a scattered approach right now.

At the end of this post, I’ve listed my favorite articles from each month the blog has been running.  Hopefully you enjoy reading them as much as I liked writing them.

I also wanted to thank a couple people that have really helped me out in the last year.

Peter Aiello – an author on S-O at times and my co-caster on the Pink Shirt Wise Guys: Italian Soccer podcast.  He’s also the guy I text back and forth with on every major sporting event and helps shape a lot of my sports opinions for better or worse.  Plus, he’s great at ranting, just tune in to the podcast to hear!

Timo Seppa – an author on Puck Prospectus who has personally helped me with articles, understanding hockey stats and has given me some great recommendations to help get my work seen.  Thanks for all the help Timo, especially since our correspondence started just by me liking one of your articles, and emailing you out of the blue.  Timo also has his own blog called Ice Hockey Metrics.

Giancarlo Rinaldi - another established writer who has helped me out and been open to new, less-established contacts.  Giancarlo writes for Football Italia and has his own blog as well.  Hopefully we can have him on as a guest podcaster soon.

Andrew Rothstein - the main editor over at Puck Prospectus.  He was kind enough to accept Timo’s advice and let me post on PP.  He’s let me pick my own topics and has thankfully published everything I’ve sent his way.  Puck Prospectus is the hockey site I most wanted to write for from Day 1 and now I’m getting the chance, which is absolutely awesome.

Gabe Desjardins - runs the statistical hockey blog Behind The Net.  Gabe has been kind enough to answer every email I’ve ever thrown his way about some of the stats tables on BehindTheNet.ca and even posted one of my articles (about Nicklas Backstrom’s contract) on his main blog several months ago.

FOF Crew – The team of guys over at Front Office Fans and Project Franchise has been really fun for me.  I love that they’re trying to get a fan-owned team and support them all the way.  They have a great group of authors and Grant Cohen was gracious enough to let me write over at FOF, even if I haven’t posted much lately.  I better get my butt in gear!

Marty Borotsik - Marty has been a fantastic NFL author hear on S-O and co-hosts the Ultimate Football Talk podcast covering all kinds of NFL-related subjects.  He’s let me join a few times which has been a blast.

My Favorite Articles from the past year on S-O

July 2009 – Part 1 of my NFL Season Preview Series

August 2009 – Part 3 of my NFL Season Preview Series (go ahead, laugh at some of those predictions) and a post about why I’m a soccer fan

September 2009 – My thoughts on the NFL’s Wildcat Offense and also a premature rant about Ronaldinho’s Demise

October 2009 – Liverpool’s use of a 3-man defense and one of my weekly NFL posts.

November 2009 - I thought the Colts should Cut Bob Sanders , Pete writes about Placenta Cures and my post about Thierry Henry’s Hand Ball that knocked Ireland out of the World Cup.

December 2009 – Jason Campbell Love, Frank Gore, NFL Rookie-of-the-Year picks and When Hockey Season Starts for me as a fan.

January 2010 -  Marty wrote a great column about the Phaneuf Trade and I wrote a letter to Jim Caldwell and we kicked off the Dignity Bowl where me, Pete and Marty picked NFL games vs our moms….

February 2010 – My Superbowl Analysis, a rant about “O Canada” and The IOC Being Sexist.

March 2010 – Hockey Gold for Canada and a Statistical Look at the Calgary Flames

April 2010 – Did the Caps Choke or the Habs Step It Up, an in-depth look at Darryl Sutter as Flames GM and Inter Milan’s importance to Italian Soccer

May 2010 – My stat on Attack Rate for Soccer Players, a Tribute to An Italian World Cup Hero and my evaluation of Nicklas Backstrom’s contract extension

June 2010 – My praise for Tim Howard in USA vs Algeria,  my (eventually correct) point that Defoe was better than Heskey for England, Tomas Plekanec’s contract and The Most Intriguing NHL Free Agents

July 2010 – Flames Free Agent Moves and The Potential Departure of Ronaldinho from Milan

Keep visiting and definitely let me know if there are topics you’d like me to write about, suggestions for changes to the site or any other correspondence.  Just email me Ryan@Sports-Opinionated.com or leave a comment on this post.

No related posts.

Is he the saviour?  You tell me.

It looks like his primary use could be as depth behind RVP and [...] No related posts.]]> Just thought I’d throw up a quick comparison of Arsenal’s new 6’1″, 154 lb (yes, you read that correctly) striker from Bordeaux.  I was curious to see how he compared to Arsenal’s other offensive players. 

Is he the saviour?  You tell me.

It looks like his primary use could be as depth behind RVP and Bendtner, but I’m still looking forward to phrases like “Laying the Chamakh down” or chants of “Chamakh my b!tch up”.

No related posts.

The first leg of the Champions League clash at the Emirates Stadium was phenomenal.  Barca were at the mercy Manuel Almunia’s stellar string of saves early on and eventually went up 2-0 early in the second half.  After going a man down, however, Barca lost their well-earned lead and ended up with a 2-2 draw.

With [...] No related posts.]]>

The first leg of the Champions League clash at the Emirates Stadium was phenomenal.  Barca were at the mercy Manuel Almunia’s stellar string of saves early on and eventually went up 2-0 early in the second half.  After going a man down, however, Barca lost their well-earned lead and ended up with a 2-2 draw.

With the second leg being played at the Camp Nou, Arsenal will be the underdogs. 

Given that they have a lot of work to do, I’ve decided to lend the Gunners my extensive video game and couch-earned managerial expertise.

If Arsenal want to win, here’s what I believe they need to do.

Break up Barca’s passing in midfield

I’m not exactly shocking the football world by declaring that Barca dominates the midfield with their passing.  Hell, at Zonal Marking they make a point of proving it.  So if everyone knows they do, and we’re all aware that it’s the source of their power, than the search for the midfield passing kryptonite needs to be found.

Unfortunately for the Gunners, it looks like Alex Song, their designated midfield destroyer, will miss the match due to injury.  That said, they still have several other options.  Mainly, they need to press and they need to collapse on central midfield.  This may mean giving up some attacking presence high up the field, but ensuring that Barca must work hard to maintain possession in the middle.

Defend down the left and attack down the right

If Barcelona use their typical 4-3-3 formation, they have the deadly combination of Lionel Messi and Dani Alves surging up the right side, meaning the left side of the defense. 

For Arsenal to ensure they are not overwhelmed, they may have to sit deeper on the left side, and frequently lend help to that side of the pitch.

Conversely, if Arsenal are to create goals, they’ll need to get Walcott behind Maxwell or Abidal, and have Sagna join the fray on overlapping runs when Walcott cuts inside. 

Play a possession game, but not along the back line

One of the defining features of Barca’s great start in the first leg was their ability to press high up the pitch.  The press created turnovers and effectively stifled Arsenal from spreading the ball out wide to their full-backs.

When the Gunners get the ball, they need to find a midfielder with it immediately.  Barca were not as adept in the second level, given that they frequently committed 4 players to pressing the back line.  If Arsenal can get a quick first pass into their primary ball distributors like Denilson, Diaby or Nasri, they should have a chance to control possession for longer spells.

The Line-ups & Formations

Both teams have a variety of their starters either injured or suspended for the game.

Barcelona will be without both central defensive starters, Carlos Puyol and Gerard Pique.  They will also likely be without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andres Iniesta and probably Yaya Toure as well.

Arsenal will be without Alex Song in midfield and William Gallas on defense.  More importantly, they will be without their best two offensive players in captain Cesc Fabregas and Andrei Arshavin.

Below is the lineup I expect from Barcelona, and the lineup I would use were I choosing for Arsenal. 

The Gunners will need to deploy Bendtner and Walcott high up the pitch.  Bendtner can be a very good passer to a cutting winger, so the two of them will need to link up on the counter to open up space for the midfielders.

Rosicky is quite good defensively for a winger, and may need to tuck into midfield at times to help maintain possession or clog the midfield in defense.  Nasri has been much better in central midfield this season than on the wing, but could easily interchange with Rosicky on offense depending on who is given more room to operate.

Diaby and Denilson will be the key for Arsenal.  They can’t be expected to dispossess Xavi and Keita at every turn, but they need to close them down and give them very little time on the ball.

Denilson will also need to be the one to initiate the offense. He is extremely adept at getting the ball to his creative players, so should be the first look for the defense if they win the ball.

With Sol Campbell in at center back, the Gunners would be best to force attackers wide and let them cross it, rather than allow them to cut to the middle.

Who Will Win?

I may be one of the only people who believes that Arsenal have a shot.  That said, without their best players, they would need to play a perfect game to pull off the upset. 

The likely score in my books is 2-1 for Barcelona.

No related posts.

Given that [...] No related posts.]]> Unfortunately for us Canadians, it’s just not possible to watch Champions League games live unless we skip out on work.  So for those of us interested in the beautiful game, the PVR is our best friend, as long as we can avoid the internet, Twitter, radio and others on our way home to watch.

Given that there are thousands of game breakdowns out there already, here are just a few random thoughts that crossed my twisted brain while watching the game.

Does Maicon have an injury or has he just slipped a little?  There were several times in the first half when the unofficial “best right back in the world” had acres of space in front of him.  He just didn’t seem to have that extra gear.  This was especially obvious when Pandev found him on a switch in the first half and the old Maicon could have rumbled towards Ross Turnbull untouched.  In this case he was caught and didn’t even get a solid cross into the box.  That was the other problem, his crossing was well below the usual standard.

For the first 30 minutes, Chelsea seemed very content to attack down the left-hand side.  Florent Malouda frequently drifted inside from his left wing position with Yuri Zhirkov overlapping him.  Malouda was Chelsea’s only dangerous player on the offensive end and he found space to operate in front of the Chelsea back four.

Alex

Vanderlei Silva

Can we get a DNA sample to settle once and for all whether Chelsea defender Alex is related to Vanderlei Silva of the UFC?  Even if they’re not related, Alex definitely looks like an MMA fighter. 

 Unfortunately for most of us spectators, the game did get quite sloppy and definitely dirty at times.  Yellow cards were handed out like parking tickets.  Lucio flipped out several times as if John Terry had slept with HIS girlfriend and Thiago Motta proved he’s one of the dirtiest players in world football.  The ugly play culminated with an apparent ankle stomp from Didier Drogba on Motta.  While Drogba deserved the red card, Motta deserved a yellow for the NFL-style tackle he laid on Drogba right before the stomp.

In my mind, the player of the game was definitely Wesley Sneijder.  He had several passes that unlocked Chelsea’s defense, with the final one to Eto’o sealing the 1-0 victory.

It looks like The Special One’s team has once again advanced in the Champions League and he also got a chance to show Roman Abramovich what

No related posts.