GIVE ME A BREAK !

I am not coming off a very good weekend, I previewed five events yesterday and whilst two won, it was the first two ( which is never the best way round) and at least two of the others should have followed suit and the other three games were all played late and I feel tired , hungry and very sorry for myself ! It was not the losses, goodness knows I am used to those after so many years and we always end up on the right side in the end, but the manner of defeat was a little tough to take.

Anyway, some brief details below from today's notes and also team news from one of tonight's games you might have missed.

MONDAY JANUARY 23RD

I feel a little like I was personally violated yesterday .

Bilbao had plenty of the ball and chances, but two penalties and a red card saw Real win by three and on another day, in another stadium, possibly two of those would not have been awarded.

The Baltimore Ravens just threw the game and more importantly for us, the extra couple of points required, away. They had not made the most of a couple of earlier trips to the "red zone" but what happened in the last drive of the game, was hard to take. Firstly, Lee Evans "caught" a reception in the end zone, but it was stripped out of his hands, to many people, it looked like he had possession long enough for the touchdown to be awarded, but no. LINK Nevermind, minutes later, Billy Cundiff had a field goal attempt from 32 yards to tie the game, he has made 16 from 16 of these inside the fourth quarter in the last two seasons and 20 from 22 of all attempts at 40 yards or less this season and pushed this one wide. LINK

The San Francisco defeat was just as hard to take, they lost by three but "gifted" the Giants ten points, following not one, but two fumbled punt returns from Kyle Williams, the second in overtime. The first was a killer, as that was a terrible error, he had chosen not to return the ball, so had to just get "out of the way", instead he hung around like a bad smell and let it hit his leg, making the ball active, I guess he had as bad a night's sleep as me ! LINK

Manchester City and Milan had won in the afternoon and I suppose we had some luck with the late, late City winner, but they had led by two earlier in the game.......... pretty tough day !

A brief look at today's action ....

Hard to believe that Villarreal were still playing Champions League football early last month, they now sit inside the bottom three and host Barcelona on Saturday and then the very poor travellers go to Sevilla, where they have lost five straight and on nine of their last ten visits.Tonight they host a "must win" game with fellow strugglers Sporting Gijon and if ever there was a "six pointer" for the Yellow Submarine, then this is it . Fortunately for them, their form at El Madrigal has held up to a degree and they are 3-4-1 on home soil. New coach Jose Molina has been at the helm just over a month, but overseen just two games, a 3-0 defeat at resurgent Atletico last week and a 2-2 home draw with Valencia, where his team blew a two goal lead. Ruben and Nilmar looked lively together upfront in that game and they had chances to reassert their two goal advantage, before conceding a late equaliser. Ruben missed the game in Madrid but he and Camunas return today. However, Nilmar has not been named in the squad, he is said to have returned to Brazil and joined Sao Paulo, with Guiseppe Rossi already out, this means that Rubens and young "B" striker Joselu are the only two forwards named and with such limited options ( Valero is the only other player named who has contributed more than a single goal this season), I have to let this one pass.

In the ACN, the North African "derby" between Tunisia and Morocco takes centre stage . They are both fairly similar teams in that they are very disciplined defensively and ...... .....

Good Luck.