Nicolas Anelka = Terrell Owens/Randy Moss?

Before I get to my idea I just want to put something out there, not just for this post but for every other post I make in the future. There is a reason I don't call "soccer" "football" on this site. As an American, I already have "football" and that's college football and the NFL, where they kick, punt, run, and throw the ball. What everyone else across the world calls "football" will always be called "soccer" here, so that's just for further reference. This particular post deals with athletes in both soccer and football, so that's why I wanted to make note of the distinction.

There is also a reason that Nicolas "The Incredible Sulk" Anelka has played for seven professional clubs even though he's still relatively young, just 28 years old. It's no coincidence that a striker who has scored (depending on what statistical site you look at) 110 goals in 327 league appearances since the 1995 season and represented his country 43 times since 1998 has bounced around from country to country (France, England, Spain, back to France, back to England, Turkey, and back to England). According to the commentators in today's Bolton-Manchester United match in which Anelka had the game-winning goal, Anelka is the second most expensive player in the world in terms of combined transfer fees paid with a total value of nearly $140 million US.

For someone who has played for some of the most historical, successful clubs in the world, Anelka sure knows how to rub his employers and teammates the wrong way. The longest he's ever stayed at one team is three seasons (Manchester City). You can't argue with his goal-scoring record; he's a prolific striker, but his problem is that wherever he goes, he's a cancer in the locker room/dressing room/changing room, whatever you want to call it.

In the NFL, a league known for its primadonna wide receivers and defensive backs, two players immediately stand out to be the same type of guy as Anelka. Mr. "I play when I want to play" Randy Moss, and Mr. "Get your popcorn ready, it's gonna be a show" Terrell Owens. Both of these guys are incredible, almost superhuman athletes; both have the talent to end up in the Hall of Fame as two of the best receivers to ever play the game of football, period. Both have already set numerous NFL records and with the way they're playing now, more will continue to fall when they're still playing.

Nicolas Anelka, Randy Moss, and Terrell Owens. When you keep them happy and they're interested, these guys all produce and are or very near the best at their positions in their respective sports. When they're disgruntled or their team is losing or they're not getting the ball enough, they start whining and become guys you simply don't want to have on your team, regardless of how naturally gifted they are.

In Anelka's case, you can't argue with a goal every three games, which is his average over his career. What you can find fault in is his inability to grow up and mature and be part of a team because his behavior has a direct correlation with how the players on the field with him perform, and it's the same for Moss and Owens. Right now, Moss and Owens are in a good situation where their teams are winning and they're getting the ball, so they can't complain. Anelka, however, is scoring but his team isn't winning; Bolton, despite their huge win today, may be relegated at the end of the season. The biggest question, then, is this: Will he, like Randy Moss, who basically campaigned his way out of Oakland last year where the team was awful and he was simply disinterested, and like T.O., who left Philadelphia two seasons ago on bad terms and joined their rival in Dallas so he could burn them when the two teams played, try and leave Bolton for a better team in January? For Bolton's sake, hopefully not.

Thank God That's Over; Podcast News

Finally! The international break is over and at long last, I'm done with my season summaries for each of the 20 Premiership teams. I hope they were informative.

As I hinted before when talking about my colleague's new podcast, I have more info to pass on. Final details have still not been set in stone but we're aiming for a December 27th debut. The podcast will be released twice a week with my brother and I making our appearance on one of the shows, and each podcast will be about 45 minutes in length, give or take a few minutes depending on the news or the Premiership/European schedule.

Again, I'll have more details here when we figure everything out but until then, regular updates will be posted here concerning the new 3rd Half Podcast.

Enjoy the slate of games this weekend.

Season Summaries--1. Arsenal

1. Arsenal (My preseason prediction: 5th)

Arsenal has been very impressive this season, led by 20-year-old Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas and his 11 goals in all competitions, 6 in the Premiership. However, let's temper our enthusiasm for this team and not just hand them the title yet. The Gunners have played such a relatively weak schedule up to this point in the season and yes, it will obviously balance out but when you examine this team and the results they've gotten, one really wouldn't expect anything else against the teams they've played.

Don't get me wrong, Arsenal is a very good team. I just am curious to see how they play in the winter months when they can't play their trademark "beautiful football", when their young legs are tested with a large amount of games in a short period of time (8 games in December) and when they actually have to travel out of London to play against decent opposition. You can beat the likes of Wigan, Reading, Bolton, Fulham (they almost lost to the Cottagers), Derby, Newcastle, Sunderland, and West Ham all you want, but the title isn't going to be decided in games against those teams. To win the Premiership, you have to beat the good teams, the teams like Manchester United (2-2 draw at home), Liverpool (1-1 draw away) and Chelsea (haven't played yet).

Arsenal will advance to the Round of 16 in the Champions League, but depending on the result in their game at second-place Sevilla on the 27th, it may not be as their grouop's winner. That would open up the possibility of Arsenal playing Man U or Inter Milan or Barcelona (second place teams play group winners in the Round of 16) and would put the Gunners in a dangerous spot. They've also advanced to the quarterfinals of the Carling Cup, where they'll make a trip to Blackburn in mid-December. Those two teams met in Ewood Park earlier this season; that match ended 1-1.

Season Summaries--2. Manchester United

2. Manchester United (My preseason prediction: 1st)

The first two months of the season couldn't have been anything less than a nightmare for Manchester United fans. After winning the Community Shield against Chelsea, last year's FA Cup winner, to start the year on a high note, injuries (Wayne Rooney, Owen Hargreaves, Michael Carrick) and suspensions (Cristiano Ronaldo) had a significant impact on the defending champions and they couldn't get any continuity going. United's first seven games of the season all ended either 1-0 or 1-1, and not being able to score goals has never been a trademark of Sir Alex Ferguson's managerial style; his teams usually play with an up-and-down, attacking flair. The Red Devils started the year off with two draws and a loss in their first three league games and people (as they usually do) started reading too much into early season results and wrote this team off.

United have gotten healthier and more in sync as the season has gone on and their results bear this out. They are 4-0-0 in their Champions League group so far and since that early loss at Manchester City, United have gone 9-1-0 in the Premiership. There was a four-game stretch in which they scored 4 goals each game and in fact, they've scored 4 goals in 5 out of their last 7 matches in all competitions, including a dominating 4-1 win at Aston Villa. The high-flying theatrics should continue as well as their next three Premiership matches are against Bolton, Fulham, and Derby.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez are by far the best striking tandem in the Premiership, and I personally believe they're the best in Europe as well. The way these two play off each other and can find one another inside the opponent's penalty area is amazing; most importantly, their finishing ability is second to none. Cristiano Ronaldo is having another Player of the Year-type season with 6 goals from midfield in his 9 Premiership starts, and that doesn't even take into account the pinpoint crosses and through balls he's become known for in the past few seasons.

Unlike Arsenal, Manchester United have had a fairly difficult schedule and actually have played some teams that aren't in the bottom half of the table. They picked up a point at Portsmouth (an accomplishment considering Cristiano Ronaldo got sent off in the second half and Rooney wasn't even healthy enough to play), thrashed Villa 4-1, beat Chelsea 2-0, beat Blackburn 2-0, beat Everton 1-0, and drew with Arsenal 2-2 in a game where they were the better team for the full 90 minutes. When United are in form, which they are now, they can beat anyone on the continent and not only will they win the Premiership this season, they have as good a chance as any team to win the Champions League. Their only disappointment of the season came when they lost to Coventry City at home 2-0 in the Carling Cup, but fewer games to play is a blessing for United as they already have a packed schedule and a roster that isn't the most immune to injury. If they stay healthy, this team can pull off the Treble again.