Grand Slam Sunday tomorrow: Chelsea - Liverpool then Man U - Arsenal. I'm planning to rise at 7am to watch the former at a local bar (no alcohol will be served, b/c that's against the law on Sunday mornings in Texas). Then I'll return home to catch the second match here at home, where the beer will be legal and plentiful.

I'm excited.

Kudos to the pub (Trinity Hall) for opening their doors so early on a day when they can't sell alcohol until noon.

FF

Please, please, please no. Sven? I don't even know what to say.

FF

Uefa.com allows you to purchase CL match replays for $1.95. The video quality is decent, but I very much like the flexibility of being able to watch at any time. I purchased AC Milan v. AEK Athens and Chelsea v. Werder Bermen (both ended 2-0).

Milan blew AEK off the field, completely dominating possession and the game. AEK never seriously threatened, other than one right-at-the-keeper header. I love Milan's controlled, tranquil passing. Milan play such a confident, steady game -- they will be hard to beat. Milan are better than any of the EPL teams I've seen this season.

I've only watched a portion of the Chelsea-Werder tilt, and Chelsea actually looked the best I'm seen them look all season. The Special One is positively dissembling when he claims Chelsea's primary goal is to win the Premiership. Nonsense. Chelsea wants the Champions League crown badly. This match is Exhibit A; in contrast to Chelsea's lazy EPL efforts, against Werder they genuinely cared, and it showed (at least for the part I saw).

FF

Man U - Celtic was a cracking 3-2 match. A back and forth, loudly cheered, goal-filled contest. Man U deserved the win, although Giggs' penalty was absurd. The luck of Giggs' penalty was evened out by United's bad luck in finishing otherwise. Rooney converted a lone breakway into nothing and also missed a fairly easy cross from Ferdinand. There were other examples.

United prevailed because their play and possession was more coherent that Celtic's. Celtic had many skilled and aggressive players (their Japanese midfielder is a delightful player) but displayed less team-wide playing cohesion than United.

FF

I lucked out (or so I thought) and caught the Liverpool-Eindhoven match (0-0) in an airport bar. Benitez was still smarting over Liverpool's 3-0 Saturday loss to Everton; he didn't start Gerrard, Alonso or Crouch today. Crouch failed to get into the game at all, and Gerrard and Alonso came on late.

The new lineup neither impressed nor entertained. Kuyt in particular has shown little, and I think his exploits in the Dutch league are overly acclaimed. Fortunately for the Reds, PSV Eindhoven also underperformed. The match was more kickball than futbol.

Liverpool should be pleased to get out with a point and no injuries. Neither team will go far in the CL if their play does not improve.

FF

The meaty part of the Champions League starts tomorrow. I'm juiced. Naturally, I'll have to miss the game I wanted to see the most, Liverpool v. PSV Eindhoven, because I'll be in a deposition. I should be able to catch part of Wednesday's Man U v. Celtic match.

FF

The Actim Index purports to rate players and more, but fails to give us the magical formulas used. Soccer needs more rigorous analysis, certainly. But supplying a rating without giving us the derivation does not help the cause. Disclosure does.

FF