Barcelona have reached the half way point of this year’s La Liga on course for a phenomenal haul of goals and points.  Yesterday they cruised to a 5-0 win over Deportivo La Coruña with the goals shared between Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi.

Those three – now referred to as ‘los tres mosqueteros’ (the three musketeers) by Catalan paper el Mundo Deportivo – surely constitute the best front line in football this year.  So far this season Eto’o has 18 league goals, Messi 12 and Henry 11.  Their total – 41 – is as many as second highest scoring team in the league – Atletico Madrid – has scored so far. 

In total, Barcelona now have 59 goals and 50 points with half the season left to play.  If Messi, Henry and Eto’o stay fit they should comfortably reach 100 goals – and could even break the record of 107, got by John Toshack’s Real Madrid side of 1989/90.  Much harder will be 100 points – something very rarely seen in 20 team top flights: Chelsea got 95 in 2004/05, Internazionale got 97 in 2006/07.  But as Manchester City are about to show in a different field, records are there to be broken.

Oxide relaunched at 12pm today. Supposedly.

Despite having launched the Oxide website in 3 different browsers (firefox, safari, internet explorer), no over-excited tones or average music have reached my eager ears.

Perhaps using a picture of a train crash to mock their predecessors in their promo material wasn’t the best idea. No one likes an arrogant know-it-all.

Do let me know if you’ve had better luck on your computers.

The Saint. x

I agree with most of what Kristian wrote yesterday.  Good saves are fun to watch on YouTube – speaking of which I challenge you to find me anything better than this ludicrous double save by Gregory Coupet – but there’s much more to a goalkeeping than that.

In searching for the perfect man between the sticks in my team, I looked for three main qualities: leadership, consistency and experience.  In the fundamental of goalkeeping skills – shot stopping – there is little to seperate those that make up the elite: Petr Èech, Iker Casillas, Julio Cesar and Gigi Buffon.  Their reactions and anticipation are of similar quality, and while Casillas is the smallest, he makes up for it with his supreme agility.

But it is in the other skills of goalkeeping that gives Iker Casillas my Number 1 jersey.  Leadership is the first point.  Casillas may not wear the captain’s arm band for Real Madrid, but he is the side’s vocal leader and talisman in a way that the spoilt Raúl has not been for years.  Last summer he became the first goalkeeper to captain his country to a major international trophy since Dino Zoff in 1982.  His leadership was as responsible as anything else for Spain finally being able to shake off their ‘chokers’ tag.

Casillas is also phenomenally consistent.  It is slightly unfair to praise players for staying injury free – it is not Arjen Robben’s fault, for example, that he is injury prone – but I do think there should be some positive recognition for those, such as Frank Lampard, who are impervious to injury.  Iker Casillas has missed five league games since the start of the 2002/03 season, which is a magnificent record – playing 241 of a possible 246 La Liga matches.  The 2002/03 season started, by the way, just months after his 21st birthday. 

And with so much football at such an early age, comes experience.  He’s only 27 but he’s won four La Ligas, a European Championship and two Champions Leagues (aged 19 and 21).  Only the grizzled Dida and Edwin van der Sar can match his two European Cup medals from goalkeepers of the modern era.  327 league appearances for Real, 436 in all competitions and 88 international caps.   I know this is based on recent form, but just think about potential too here for a minute.  Casillas has got until May 2011 while he’s still in his twenties.  His thirties are going to be terrifying.

Jack’s World XI

• GK Iker Casillas (Real Madrid and Spain)

NEWS
Surely by now, ‘Omkar rails against Union’ isn’t any basis for a front page. Cherwell relegates it to gossip – perhaps going too far, but then who am I to judge? Even the librarian agrees, mocking Omkar for ranting incoherently. Presumably that was the ranting he did right down the phone to Oxstu.

The rest of the Stu’s news is standard fare. Good piece on ‘brain drain’.

Cherwell, instead of relying on facebook notes for their front page, found a story by the time-honoured tough journalistic technique of, erm, knowing someone at Brasenose.

Interesting stuff on credit crunch, exam disparities, good goss on Merton interviews.

Does ‘Union good at debating’ really deserve a half page?
Also…”The shared student house of Nouri Verghese, the Oxford Union’s treasurer elect…” I’m going to say this once, and say it clearly, so there are no mistakes for the rest of the term. UNION OFFICERS ARE NOT CELEBRITIES. DO NOT INFLATE THEIR EGOS BY TREATING THEM AS SUCH. Nevertheless, Cherwell treats us to this exclusive nugget of gossip – apparently Verghese was “feeling pretty pissed off”. wow.

FEATURES
Cherwell in proper interesting feature shocker! People climbing the Rad Cam! I actually do want to know more. Meanwhile we get worthy but dull genocide stuff from their rival, as well as a half-baked ‘I went to Paris, read some nice books’ piece. Also, someone went to Washington.

Cherwell, to prove it can do worthy-dull, has a piece on immigration interviewing an ‘expert’ that is … wait for it… a Jesus D. Phil student.
Then again, Daniel Craig! Alan Davies! Even I, who exist on a saintly plane above all celebrity culture, has heard of these men. Oxstu? Whaddayagot? Hmmm? Oh, the editor of Cosmo. No, I’ll read that again, the FEATURES editor. Not even the top hack, and all we get is a blatant ad for Cosmo. I hear if you buy it, you get an instant orgasm.

GOSSIP
Librarian? WTF? 4 stories for a whole page. Used to be much better than Evelyn, now Johnny has taken the crown. Admittedly old Union news, but neater and with pictures.

CULTURE, FASHION, FILM, ALL THAT STUFF
Cherwell needs to stop putting the faces of their staff in the paper. Noone wants to look at that.
Thespionage will be about plays. Yawn.
Cherwell’s fashion is grainy, Oxstu’s is pretty, but has sacrificed style for substance. The clothes look good, any clue where I might buy them? No? Whatever.

SPORT
Yeh. People kicked balls.

DESIGN
No re-design for either paper. Cherwell remains the tidier. There’s funny fonts and stray lines going on in the Oxstu, especially the back end of the paper. No doubt will improve in time as people get used to that tricky software.

First Round goes to the red top, Oxstu needs to come out fighting.

The Saint x

On Tuesday, January 20th, Barack Obama will take to a specially-constructed stage on the steps of the United States Capitol, and history will be made.

It will be a defining moment for the United States and the world. A moment that will be recounted for years to come, no doubt; a moment we are sure to remember.

And then Obama will make his first speech as the 44th President of the United States.

Inaugural addresses are judged by the highest of standards. Since Obama is famed for his speeches, and since the challenges the world faces are great, he will be judged perhaps against higher standards than many of his predecessors. Bluntly, he has to nail it.

I’ve been reading and watching a fair few past inaugural addresses over the last week. I’ve also read quite a bit by Peggy Noonan – an American conservative commentator whose approach to the issues I rarely agree with, but whose ability in speechwriting can hardly be disputed. Amongst others, she wrote for Reagan.

Here’s what I think.

Obama has two things to do when he reaches the podium. First, define the moment. The speech has to paint for the audience a clear picture of now — what the world is like, what that means for the country. He must answer the question: which are the big themes and trends at play at home and around the world today?

Second, the new President has to sketch for the American people what must happen next – how best to proceed, how to meet the challenges. He must articulate his vision for the future of the United States. What will we do tomorrow? How do we use these next four years to restore America’s promise?

There’s a wider point to be made: Rhetoric can make a good speech great, but it can’t produce substance, meaning, emotion from the ether. The power of a speech lies in what it says, the argument it makes — simply, what it means. It’s that which makes it emotive. Good writing can amplify that; great writing can can make crowds come to their feet. But it is no replacement for the cogency and logical force of what’s being said; no replacement for meaning.

Take Churchill. “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” Incredible, and moving too. But it’s powerful not just because of the sentence structure. It’s deeper than that. It’s what he’s saying: People have died so that we can be safe; we owe them.

Kennedy’s inaugural address wasn’t brilliant for (what Noonan refers to as) its ‘ask-nots’, brilliant though they were. It was brilliant because what he said was powerful in the moment. In the face of a deepening cold war divide, of insurgencies throughout the world, it was not so much a call to arms as a call to join arms. To unite — and, looking danger in the face, stare it down, unflinching in the desire not for war but for peace. Kennedy spoke of the universality of the rights of man, and affirmed his commitment to use the power of the United States to protect and promote them at home and abroad.

Thought by many to be the best of the modern inaugural addresses, it was so because of what it said; because of what he meant.

The worst inauguration address of recent times is thought to be Bill Clinton’s second. Clinton is often referred to as ‘the great orator who never gave a great speech’. He was (and remains) impressive in interviews, and on the stump campaigning. Simply, he is naturally very adept at conveying his feelings clearly, sincerely, believably. But he is not that good at giving prepared, set-piece speeches. He seems to try to adopt the persona of somebody else — unnecessarily — which is not so convincing.

But that wasn’t the problem in this instance. The problem with his second inaugural was it said nothing of real note. Rhetorically it was impressive, but it was all tinsel and no tree. Watching it, when you reach the end, you have trouble working out what he said. A Presidential inaugural shouldn’t be overloaded with policy detail, but it should paint a clear picture of what the administration will stand for, how it will proceed. Clinton set the scene too much, painting a distant landscape with no real subject to occupy the foreground, no real vision. It was what a Presidential inaugural address must not be.

Obama will avoid Clinton’s mistake by doing the following. First, explain how he conceives this moment and its place in history. Second, and most importantly, put forward his vision; what government must do and be in the next four years in America.

He was smart to give his big economic speech last week — it got the nitty gritty out of the way. It means his address next Tuesday need not be so specific, nor focussed upon a single issue; he will be able to articulate his vision in broader brushstrokes. It must, however, be a perspicuous vision. It can’t just be a string of good phrases.

As for us, we will reach the end of his speech moved. The test will be if we know clearly what his big message was.

Ian Rush famously sympathised with goalkeepers once, acknowledging how difficult their job was. It was easy to be a striker, he said, as you could miss ten chances but score the winner and become the hero. For a goalkeeper, you can make ten fantastic saves but let in the decisive goal and become the villain.

But as a former promising goalkeeper (sic), I know that there is more to goalkeeping than shot-stopping. It is an essential aspect for sure, but a good goalkeeper should not be judged merely on how many 25-yard efforts he tips around the post.

That’s why I scoff when I hear the likes of Scott Carson, Chris Kirkland and Rob Green touted as potential world beaters.

Scott Carson would have trouble commanding a cardboard box, let alone his penalty area. It is his inability to come off his line that means he makes point-blank saves when he shouldn’t need to.

West Ham’s no.1 is the most complete ‘keeper out of the three but still lacks communication and pace off his line, whilst Chris Kirkland struggles with any balls near his feet. Just ask Rivaldo or Lee Carsley.

But this article is to find the best GK in the world, not to pick faults at the average-to-poor English efforts.

I was torn between four players – Iker Casillas (Real Madrid & Spain), Pepe Reina (Liverpool & Spain), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus & Italy) and Julio Cesar (Internazionale & Brazil).

I can hear the gasps from West London right now but rest assured Chelsea’s Petr Cech would have been in here there wasn’t a question mark regarding his head injury. Unfortunately for football, he just hasn’t been the same since his career-threatening injury at the Madjeski Stadium.

All of these goalkeepers are confident in the air, despite the usual quasi-xenophobic claims that overseas ‘keepers punch too much. Even the weakest of the four in that respect, Pepe Reina, has improved a lot of the past 12 months. Another quality all four possess is confidence in their back-lines. One of the most infuriating lies perpetuated in this sport is how certain goalkeepers have an easier task because of the defence in front of them.

A football team is an organic process. A manager does not merely select a team of eleven players who play their own game indepedant of one another. A team is a fully functioning, communicative group of characters – the back-four would not be as good without a goalkeeper behind them who helped them through the 90 minutes, and vice-versa.

It’s why Aston Villa’s back-line of Luke Young, Laursen, Davies and Reo Coker have conceded four less at this stage of the season than the superior back-four of Bouma, Laursen, Mellberg and Luke Young (in his natural right-back position) did last season. Friedel is a better goalkeeper than Carson in most aspects – that trust is essential for the defence to perform to their full capabilities.

Picking this position is possibly the hardest of all – not necessarily due to the strong competition (although it’s a contributing factor) but because, despite being on par in the basic aspects of goalkeeping, they all bring something different to their team. Casillas’ reliability has even the poorest Real Madrid defence assured, something Buffon can claim as well. Reina is the world’s best sweeper ‘keeper, his pace and distribution essential to the way Liverpool line-up – in fact, his contribution to the team is worth a blog post on it’s own. There isn’t a more important goalie in the world than Pepe Reina is to Liverpool.

But at this present time, Julio Cesar brings all of those qualities to the table more than any. He’s reliable, he distributes well and most importantly, he doesn’t concede many goals. Nor do the other three, of course, but there’s a certain romanticism about the manner in which Cesar quietly became a key component to Internazionale’s Serie A winning side. He snuck into the Brazil national team and has now forced Dida into international retirement, mainly due to a staggering ten hours without conceding a goal. Amazed by how Brazil have seemingly become better in defence? Here is the reason why the likes of Juan and Lucio, painfully average on occasion for their club sides, transform into world class defenders in the yellow and green of Brazil.

I said that Pepe Reina is the most important goalkeeper to one individual club; what edges Cesar ahead of him at this current moment is that the Brazilian could fit into any club side in the world, which is ultimately the raison d’etre of this World XI. It doesn’t matter what style the club would play – Cesar would fit in and do an astonishing job like he has for three years at Inter.

Oh, and he takes penalties, too. It can’t be in doubt now you know that, surely?

• Kristian’s World XI
  

GK: Julio Cesar (Internazionale & Brazil)