The Football Addick

Back in early summer, a completely transformed CPR team took to pre season training; very unfit and very unsure to how their season would unfold. However, despite the team’s formation merely 5 or so months ago, CPR have enjoyed a terrific start to the season. They've been involved in 11 games and have won 9 of them, and have only been beaten once to a team who's first XI are in the 6th tier of English football. Could they ever have imagined a better start? Not a chance. 2nd in the league on goal difference with a game in hand and in the quarter finals of the league cup, proceedings have gone swimmingly for the recently formed side. CPR started off the season with little expectation, but now find themselves with League and Cup winning aspirations. It's been a tremendous opening 11 games for the black and orange striped side, and here are a few stats on how the season has panned out thus far. Games Played: 11 Games Won: 9 Games Drawn: 1 Games Lost: 1 Goals scored: 65 ...

CPR played their second successive away game, with this week CPR pitting their wits against Chobham Burymead; who managed to hold CPR to their only dropped points earlier on in the season in a 4-4 draw. But there was never any real doubt that CPR were going to walk away with the points from the offset, and they managed to hit Chobham for 6 in a very dominant display. Chobham had just come off the back off a very good 1-1 draw against CPR's title rivals, Hartley Whitney, and in addition to holding CPR to a 4-4 draw earlier on in the year, meant they could put a huge dent in CPR's title aspirations. The team lined up as follows: GK: Kevany LB: Goggin CB: Nott CB: Hastings RB: Finlay CM: Adolphous CM: Rolt LM: Stroud RM: Honeywood CF: Dunnage ST : Rice Subs: Ross, Marsh, Morris, Parslow, Barby The only absentees were last week’s 5 goal hero McMillan, who was unavailable for family reasons, and Lloyd-Bisley, who was still out with a broken foot. The game started off w...

When Brendan Rodgers departed Swansea to take the Liverpool job at the start of the season, the vacant managerial job at the Welsh team was taken by Michael Laudrup. Laudrup had had success in Spain and decided to stick to his roots, bringing in a number of Spanish recruits such as Pablo Hernandez and Chico . But most importantly, he made a signing that few people had heard of. A Spanish attacking midfielder by the name of Michu was brought in for a fee of £2 million, a nominal fee considering the money that is thrown about at will in the foot balling world. No one knew what the lad can do, but 16 Premier League games and 12 goals later; he has announced himself to the public eye in blistering fashion. With his goals the main reason why Swansea are performing admirably despite the limited funds at their disposal, Michu could be considered as the bargain of the season. Laudrup's decision to sign Michu for £2 million may go down as the transfer of the season £2 million. £...

Thiago Messi - will he ever be as good as his father? On the 2nd November 2012, a potential star was born. Lionel Messi, arguably one of the greatest footballers in history to grace the beautiful game, became a father. He gave birth to a baby boy named Thiago and much is expected of the son of the Argentine sensation, despite only being a month old. Clubs have already raced for his signature with Newell's Old Boys already making Thiago an official club supporter, increasing their chances that he will be involved in their youth set up. There has also been a major dispute whether the potential star will appear for Spain or Argentina . Having been born in Spain , Thiago will have a decision to make whether he will represent the country of his birth or the nation of his father. With Lionel firmly connected to Barcelona for the unforeseeable future, if Thiago does emulate the success of his father, or even becomes half the player he is, he will have a big decision to make regardi...

I came across an app on the app store named 'Ultimate XI,' whereby you can name your starting XI for both a classic and current world teams. So, after a few tinkering with tactics and my players, I came to a decision who my current world XI would be and I will name and justify my decisions below. Formation: 4-3-3 GK: Manuel Neuer       Club: Bayern Munich       Nation: German  In my opinion, Neuer has established himself as the world's best goalkeeper  Manuel Neuer, who has been nicknamed 'Spider-Man' for his wonderful goalkeeping talent is undoubtedly in my mind the best goalkeeper in the world at this present time. His goalkeeping expertise has led to success for both club in country, having helped reach the semi finals in both Euro 2012 and the World Cup 2010 for his national side. He also helped Bayern Munich reach the 2012 Champions League, before agonisingly losing in a penalty shoot out to Chelsea despite saving penalti...

Curley Park Rangers next test saw them travel to Tongham, a team they beat 6-5 in the reverse fixture earlier on in the season. Tongham managed to score 5 again, but CPR managed to score more; rattling in 7 after being 5-2 down. Curley Park Rangers walked away from the game unhappy that they managed to concede 5 again to poor opposition, but were also relieved that they were able to mount an incredible comeback after being 5-2 down. The team lined up as follows: GK: Dunnage LB: Barby CB: Nott CB: Hastings RB: Ross CM: Rolt CM: Honeywood LM: Parslow RM: Stroud CF: Rice ST : McMillan Subs: Morris Many CPR players were missing for the game, most notably goalkeeper Kevany who had been struck down by illness. Dunnage was given the gloves in the first half, with Rice replacing him in the second. Other absentees included Finlay, Lloyd-Bisley, Adolphous, Goggin and Marsh, with the latter preferring to watch the Manchester derby on TV instead of playing. The game kicked off as per...

Darren Bent has a history of goals. We have seen this at his spells with Ipswich, Charlton and Sunderland, where the England front man was able to bang in goals for fun. This year, Aston Villa are currently struggling to find the back of the net, yet Paul Lambert decides to cast Bent aside, leaving him to warm the bench. For me, this is just a terrible decision. Lambert has instead turned to youth this season, with inexperienced youngsters such as Weimann beating Bent to a starting berth a number of times this season. No disrespect to Weimann, he is a striker who can score some good goals, but he isn't the poacher like player who's going to score 20 goals a season and win you games. Darren Bent is, and that's why I'm so astonished that he finds himself on the bench for a struggling Villa side. £24 million to sit on the bench!? Let me throw out there a few facts for you. Bent has appeared in 414 games throughout his career, scoring 176 goals. This equates to a 0....

Having just come off the back of creating history for his club, you would think Di Matteo's position as manager at Chelsea would be relatively safe. However, the reality was very different. Despite having masterminded Chelsea's Champions League winning campaign, and having guided them from a horrific state to a solid 5th place finish as well as defeating Liverpool to lift the FA Cup, merely 6 months later Roberto Di Matteo was packing his bags and was sacked. Roman Abramovich has been known as a no mercy type executioner at Chelsea , but undoubtedly on this occasion he was way too early to wield the axe. When things are not going right, Abramovich isn't shy in changing things around Based on his achievements, you would say that his sacking was extremely harsh. He only lasted just over 8 months in the job between March and November, but was still able to secure 2 major trophies. One of which was the Champions League, a trophy that Abramovich himself had such a desir...