With just two minutes to go at tonight Turf Moor exploded as Jay Rodriguez took advantage of some Gomes like keeping from Gomes’ stand-in to poke a left foot volley into the back of the net. That moment will be like almost nothing those fans have seen before. The ground was pulsating. They had pulled off the seemingly impossible; the little Championship side had pulled back a three goal deficit from a full strength Tottenham side against all odds.  Words can’t describe how great it would have felt to be in that ground. This blogger was preparing a list of all time great comebacks. All they had to do was survive extra time unscathed…

Just half an hour later, those same fans would be leaving the stadium utterly crushed. Having been just two minutes away from a dream day at Wembley they conceded not one but two late goals as their legs tired. Tottenham didn’t deserve one goal on the night never mind two. During extra time the BBC’s 606 service was inundated with Tottenham fans saying that they hoped they didn’t score because they deserved it that little.

Losing under such circumstances makes you feel about as bad as a football match can because you’ve fallen from the hights of elation to the depths of despair in the blink of an eye. On 117 minutes Burnley fans were dreaming of Wembley, on 118 the dream was crushed as Pavlyuchenko wheeled away in celebration.

The question is was it worth them climbing that mountain given how bad it feels to fall from the peak? In April last year I sat as one of only two Arsenal fans in a whole Dublin bar as Theo Walcott produced one of the greatest runs of all time to put Arsenal ahead on away goals with just 6 minutes remaining. Dancing on the table seconds later was the happiest a single moment of football has ever made me feel. Just a minute later as Kolo Toure felled Ryan Babel was the worst a single moment of football has ever made me feel. That run, like the triumphant end to Burnley’s comback tonight, deserved to win any football match. I was utterly desolate.

Wouldn’t it have just been better to have lost deservedly? A simple 2-0 reverse would leave you disappointed and down sure, but utterly gutted? Hardly. In the depths of footballing despair that moment of elation feels a lifetime away, snatched away as though it were never there.

Of course the ups and downs of football is what makes being a fan so great. To quote Robbie Williams, “you’ll never get high unless you taste the lows”. It really is better to get that close, to know how much you deserved it, but it sure as hell won’t feel like that now for the Burnley fans.

To be sure, it was a terrific speech. But it was special, I think, because it wasn’t what we’ve seen from Obama before, and perhaps therefore not what we’d expected.

It was tough. It was, frankly, quite straight talking. Obama’s speeches can be beautiful, the language so well constructed as to seem like poetry. It was like that at times yesterday, only those moments were most often to be found in the starkest passages. I remember being particularly drawn to a line where, speaking of generations passed, he talked of their working “till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life.” It’s not pretty but it is powerful.

For much of the first half, the crowd fell silent. I felt people weren’t applauding because they were struck by the gravity of the message. It would have seemed wrong to clap a line like the one I just quoted. That, I think, was the intention of the speech. Not an applause-happy crescendo, but a tough, sober reflection for the moment; a reasoned call to rise to the challenge, as many have done before.

But that is not to say his speech was not applaudable. I think it was tremendously brave, actually. Speaking truth to power is often thought to be terribly gutsy. But working in the opposite direction is often harder, I’d argue: being the holder of power and having the courage to tell your people that all is not well in their land. Arguing that all must change, but that this change will not be easily achieved.

He didn’t hold back. Not in his assessment of the moment, of the nature of US politics, of President Bush (whose staff were reportedly annoyed by some of the not-so-subtle allusions to Katrina, to an unwillingness to take tough decisions and be held accountable). He talked fairly bleakly of the paradox of America — a nation at once so prosperous and so impoverished; with so much might and splendour but some true failings too: the healthcare network, the public education system, the crumbling infrastructure.

The first half was FDR. It was honest and painted a modest picture. It contained some of the most inauspicious language used yet by Obama and his team to define the state of the economy. It was hard truths. The second half was more JFK. The entirety of the section devoted to addressing foreign entities, “To the Muslim world”, “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit”, “To the people of poor nations”, harked back almost precisely to the words of Kennedy’s inaugural, and his message. (Interesting note: According to the analysts, that use of “Muslim” was the first use of the word in any Presidential inaugural. He also used “nonbeliever” for the first time.)

What was his big message? It was a mixture of the following two quotes:

“Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin the work of remaking America.”

And “the time has come to set aside childish things.”

The message: We must remake America, not just because this moment is tough, but because our great democracy has, in its maturity, grown complacent and begun to slip. Our politics has been too broken for too long. It’s time to wake up and get moving. And it was something like these are serious times which require serious people.

And though it seems obvious to say so, it represented an exceptional moment, even for us in Britain. The pictures out this morning of President Obama in the Oval Office, talking to his Chief of Staff, seemed unreal. Partly because, like with any inauguration, it represents an obvious yet unfamiliar change. This one was very special though. Let’s hope he lives up to his promise.

As a midfielder with the flair and guile associated with Gazza, George Best and Ginola, goalkeeping is not my strong point. I often think that managers and journalists overcomplicate goalkeeping. Talk of Reina acting as a sweeper/playmaker in Liverpool’s system, or a goalkeeper’s presence being a defining characteristic of a team is nonsense. To me a goalkeeper is, and always will be, the last kid picked to play in the playground. 

I turned my back on goalkeeping because a goalkeeper is always judged on his mistakes. Therefore, it is to Gianluigi Buffon that I give the number 1 jersey. Buffon is the nearest thing to perfection because he makes the least mistakes, claims the most crosses and can pull off the most fantastic saves. Reina is great, but too small (see Mcshane’s goal for Hull at Anfield)and his kicking can be terrible. Cech’s injury against Reading seems to have made him more error prone, making bad judgements in big matches (Czech Republic in Euro 2008). Casillas is an excellent keeper, but does not command his box with the authority of Buffon. I have not watched Cesar of Inter Milan for a prolonged period, like the others and therefore cannot judge him fully. However, from what I have seen, he has the potential to live up to Buffon’s excellence. Yet, it is only recently that he has emerged to be Brazil’s numbert one, and it is essential for goalkeepers to keep form for prolonged periods, rather than have confidence each month, like every single English keeper.

Therefore.

Jakes World XI

                                          Buffon (Juventus and Italy)

After a week or so of exhilarating fantasy, us Man City fans were brought back to earth on Monday night with a crash. The MCFC delegation in Milan, led by our rather bizarre Executive Chairman Garry Cook, was to come back empty handed. The protests of hundreds of Milan fans had convinced Kaká not to leave, and the deal was off. Naturally all three parties: MCFC, AC Milan and Kaká himself sought to claim credit for calling it off. (Rather than rehash the details, I direct you to this fascinating and well-sourced piece by The Times‘ Oliver Kay).

But regardless of who exactly said what to whom and when, the winners and losers from this were clear. Silvio Berlusconi played his role to perfection – personally calling up Italian television on Monday night to announce that Kaká was staying. Manchester City looked rather silly and rather vulgar – trying to offer an unrefusable sum of money and then still walking away emptyhanded. Kaká himself was elevated to a status shared only by Paolo Maldini with fans of the Rossoneri. Unless, of course, he goes to Real Madrid in the summer.

But, in the last day or so, I’ve started to wonder whether this is so bad for City after all? On reflection, it was such a bold move, such a leap in the dark, that we cannot be too disconsolate. A team with 25 points in 21 games, and no trophies in 32 years, tried to sign one of the world’s greatest footballers for almost double the all-time transfer record. Yes, we got our fingers burnt. But the sheer audacity of it impresses me.

We learnt that while we have some way to go to convince a World Cup, Champions League and Ballon d’Or winner (Robinho has won none of those) to join us, our mountains of cash and chutzpah at least buys us a seat at the table. Our mistake may have been in aiming in slightly too high this time: not only is Kaká genuinely one for the ages – the very best of the very best – but his personal beliefs make him less like to chase Mammon quite as crudely as other footballers.

We may have to settle for Bellamy and Bridge this January, but I am sure we will back in January aiming for more top stars. Kaká, Messi and Torres may be beyond us for some time. But there are plenty of world class players just one level beneath them, for whom a quarter of a million pounds each week may be too much to turn down, protesting fans or none.

With all five votes in and counted, we have a dramatic tie for the first place ‘Saturday 12:45 World XI’.  Iker Casillas and Gianluigi Buffon received two votes each – Sean and myself going for Iker, Adam and Jake picking Gigi.  Kristian chose Julio Cesar.  This tie will have to be settled in the final reckoning in eighth week.

But now we must move on to the left back. The favourites are probably Phillip Lahm and Patrice Evra. But how about the charming Mr Cheryl Tweedy of “When I heard Jonathan repeat the figure of £55,000, I nearly swerved off the road” fame? Will the more cavalier writers pick Gaël Clichy? Or the fashionable ones Yuri Zhirkov? Only time will tell.

Gianluigi Buffon once said of himself, ‘I like to think that I am a buffon, a clown, entrusted with the task of entertaining people’ and whilst his performances hardly approach comedy, they do tend to offer the grace of the trapeze artist and poise of the juggler. All would surely agree that Buffon is one of the top keepers in the world, yet surprisingly only a minority would say he is the best. I sometimes feel that Gigi is a victim of his many successes, ‘Buffon’ a name so synonymous with goalkeeping excellence that it precedes the player, people assuming he lives on past glories.

It can prove tempting to reduce player comparisons into footie-manager style face-offs; who’s got a higher rating for shot-stopping, who has a lower one for erraticism etc. But a keeper is more than his sum: a pacy forward who can finish – but is useless in all other ways – will probably still get the odd brace, yet a goalie requires everything and more. For me, a comparison between the best keepers should transcend debates as to who possesses better reflexes, communication or positioning, since the top few are all likely to excel in such regards. The margin is perhaps a more subtle one as we approach the summit of any position, yet of the greatest keepers currently playing, Gigi is probably the only one who could retire today and still be guaranteed legend-status in fifty or even a hundred years.

This Superman has been flying from post to post for so long that he can easily be taken for granted. Nor has he been helped by the state of Italian football; Juventus and Serie A have suffered over the last few years, existing beneath the shade of match-fixing scandals and hooliganism, all of which has left it easy to underestimate Buffon’s brilliance. Yet despite playing in a climate where the English and Spanish ‘products’ have been given prominence by Sky, Gigi continues to demand attention. The most imposing keeper in the world and a consistent (and loyal) presence for club and country, his success and experience is unparalleled. Despite the Bianconeri’s recent troubles, Buffon has still helped them to accumulate another four scudettos (I include the last despite supporting Inter), displaying an ability to breathe life into the often stale and ageing line-ups he has graced.

And Gigi’s international performances have followed a similar pattern. His pinnacle was of course found in Italy’s World Cup triumph three years ago, where he conceded nothing save an own goal and penalty kick on route to the Lev Yashin award for the tournament. Italy built their success defensively, arguably making Buffon a more important figure for the Azzurri than for instance (the also brilliant) Casillas is for Spain. Buffon even excelled at Euro 2008 despite having ten players in front of him who were collectively the closest thing Italy have offered to clowns. But with Abu Dhabi and their own Circus Mancximus calling, Buffon looks set to once more remain faithful to his old lady and continue in (slightly) underrated brilliance.