By Michael Sinnerton

As the season of league football began this week, I can't help but notice the apparent strength of the Championship this season. Newcastle's line-up against West Brom was thus: Harper; Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Taylor, Taylor; Nolan, Duff, Gutierrez, Smith; Ameobi, Caroll. You've got to fancy at least five or six of those players to do a decent job in the Premiership - at least Newcastle's problems over the summer have meant a virtual transfer embargo which has left such quality at the club.

Cardiff, Derby and Preston all look very decent outfits capable of a promotion challenge, not to mention the recently relegated Middlesbrough and West Brom. Both of whom should make more than a decent run on a play-off place. Reading have quality throughout the side and Sheffield United can never be discounted.  With Ipswich, QPR and Swansea fans all hoping for good seasons only one thing's certain, someone's going to be disappointed.

Who looked good on the first day to you? And who is the team to beat?

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Just a quick note to pass on respect to the family and friends of Daniel Jarque. The Espanyol captain and 26 year old died after a heart attack on Saturday. Jarque played almost 200 times for Espanyol, spending his whole career at the club and was capped by Spain at U17,19,20 and U21 level. His death, two years after that of Antonio Puerta, transcends football and its rivalries.

 Joan Laporta: "We are filled with extreme dismay at this tragic event which we deeply regret," he told the Barcelona club website. Today we are all in mourning. I want to send, on behalf of FC Barcelona, our deepest sympathies to RCD Espanyol for the painful loss of their captain Dani Jarque, and to his family."

By Michael Sinnerton

With Xabi Alonso completing Real Madrid's spending, Florentino Perez has his dream team more or less in order. But will it work? Students of the Game takes a look at how it might.

Manuel Pellegrini is largely expected to start the season with a 4-3-3- formation. With Iker Casillas more or less picking himself, the back four could be something along the lines of Ramos - Pepe - Albiol - Arbeloa. Marcelo offers a more attacking option at full-back and Arbeloa could switch to right back with Ramos tried through the middle (although that's unlikely). The young Argentinean Ezequiel Garay and Christoph Metzelder provide centre back cover in a defence that has its weak points but still looks fairly solid.

A midfield three of Alonso - Diarra - Gago would give Madrid one destroyer and two creators, with Alonso and Diarra surely guaranteed starts. Depending on sales Madrid may have an embarrassment of riches in midfield but Esteban Granero and Mahamdou Diarra likely to provide cover. Sneijder and Van der Vaart would provide more exciting options but are likely to be shown the door.

An attacking line of Ronaldo - Benzema - Kaka doesn't sound bad at all, albeit I'd rather see Kaka tucking in with a more progressive midfielder (Sneijder) on the left of the three to take advantage of the space left out wide. Nonetheless the front-line promises goals - whether as many as Henry - Ibrahimovic - Messi is left to be seen. As an aside anyone wondering whether La Liga is stronger than the Premiership should take a quick look at those front 3's again.

The main problem with the 4-3-3 system as I see it is the waste of Higuain, RVN and any other strikers Madrid have left on their books. Equally a poor start from Benzema could leave him struggling to get back into the team quickly, which would be a waste of his wonderful talent.

by Joel Abraham

It's the time of year that every football fan dreads. You're on Amazon and you've stuck Football Manager 2010 in your basket. Then comes the toughest decision overweight, hairy-palmed armchair dwellers like us have to face: PES or FIFA? You can't buy both (it's unheard of) so you end up having to pick sides in a war as old as time itself. Up until last year, the divides were clear cut, two loyal camps and very little switching of allegiances. PES was widely regarded as the game for the purists, with FIFA the choice for those who liked official kits and badges. But in 2008, FIFA dramatically upped their game whilst PES struggled with the next-gen console conversion, and FIFA began to take the lead in the war. After a couple of years under the cosh, word is that PES have dusted themselves off and are about to bring their A-game to the table. Both games are expected to be released in late September/early October. So how are things shaping up so far?

PES:

The Konami boys have gone back to the drawing board after losing their way somewhat with their previous efforts. The biggest change reported is the pace of the game, which has been dramatically reduced in order to create a more realistic gameplay that requires a tactical approach, rather than bombing from end to end with Messi. Dribbling is more difficult, and no longer can you sprint through an entire team unchallenged.

One new gimmick is the Strategy Gauge, which enables a more intricate tactical approach. It features sliding cursors on bars for several key aspects of your gameplan, allowing you for example to park the bus or hit the opposition on the break. Player Support (deciding the number of players to commit to attacks), Support Range (how close teammates get to the man on the ball) and Attacking Style (width of play) are some of the gauges available to tweak your attacking options, allowing you to opt for a swashbuckling, short-passing style or a more cautious direct build up, or something in between. Defensive gauges include Pressing and Defensive Line, all of which combine to let the player set out his tactics with greater precision than the last instalments.

There is also the card system which replaces the special ability stars, the major difference being that a player's unique skill can be switched off to support your team strategy. For example, you might wish to turn off Dani Alves' overlapping runs if you're defending a lead.

The penalty kick system has also been changed to the FIFA approach, with more control over direction and power, whilst automatic computer actions have (praise the lord) been removed. Anyone who's been precariously defending a one-goal advantage only to have the computer decide to help you out with a scything two-footed penalty area tackle will know that this is joyous news indeed.

With the game only partially completed, we have yet to find out whether all the other silly PESisms will be removed. One bugbear of mine was the way players threw their heads back and backs straight in order to sprint, looking a bit like road runner, and also the ridiculous off-the-ball running, where someone like Eric Abidal could match Theo Walcott for pace in order to nab a loose ball. We can only pray that the commentary is also improved.

The Champions League and Europa League are licensed and will be included in the revamped Master League mode, which may go some way to clawing back credibility on the fully licensed FIFA. The graphics look much sharper, leaving PES looking alot more promising this year.

FIFA:

EA Sports have won over many new fans (myself included) with their ultra-realistic gameplay, edging them in front in the game wars. It doesn't sound like they've been resting on their laurels, with several new mouthwatering features on the menu.

The main offering so far is the 360° dribbling system, replacing the standard eight-way-run mechanics. There is no more limited movement or predictable running patterns. For the first time ever, you can put your player and the ball EXACTLY where you want, enabling cunning playmakers like myself to exploit tiny tiny gaps in the defence to devastating effect.

The dribbling is much more skilled, allowing players to switch the ball to their stronger foot, quickly lose a defender, or work yourself an extra yard of space to unleash a shot in a crowded penalty area.

The ball physics have been changed and are now more fluid, halving the time it takes for the ball to travel. This has also made the shooting less 'floaty', whereas past instalments felt like you were launching a balloon rather than putting your foot through a lump of leather.

The goalkeeping AI has been improved, as keepers will now rush off their lines to deal with oncoming attackers, and actually clear crosses rather than standing around waiting for them to reach Didier Drogba's head. The refereeing has also been changed, with more liberal application of the advantage rule, which along with the removal of several annoying animations, allows the player to take quick free-kicks and generally create a more fluid gameplay.

So that's where we stand. There are certain to be a few more tricks up sleeves between now and October, but already it looks like the competition will be much closer than it has been in previous years. My money is still on FIFA, but I wouldn't be surprised to be proved wrong.

By Michael Sinnerton

As part of this week's focus on Italy, Students of the Game looks at how champions Inter have prepared for the challenge of defending their title and making a better challenge in Europe.

Having won the league for the fourth consecutive time (third on the pitch), Inter have quickly become the Lyon of Italian football. Whilst there success is impressive, from the outside it appears that they have relied heavily on Ibrahimovic and have won the league through being fairly well-organised at the back and having lots of good players, rather than any form of system or teamwork. Obviously they benefited majorly from the Calciopoli scandal with their main rivals arguably still recovering.

With Juventus and AC Milan appointing young coaches, Mourinho finds himself in the strange position of the experienced campaigner. Losing the big Swede has given hope to the other big clubs but Mourinho is still able to pick from Diego Milito, Samuel Eto'o, David Suazo and Mario Balotelli as front-line strikers (with seal-juggling Kerlon a maverick option).

With two of his first three signings, Ricardo Quaresma and Mancini, seemingly unfancied, this season could see Inter switch to a 4-3-1-2 system this season with Hleb or Stankovic good options to play in the hole. A midfield three of Motta, Cambiasso and Muntari should add strength (although Motta's ability at this level is debateable) to the team and make them hard to beat. This would allow Maicon and Santon to provide attacking width down the flanks, with the Brazilian in particular always keen to get forward.

Cordoba, Zanetti, Burdisso, Materazzi, Samuel, and Chivu all provide international class options in defence in front of the excellent Julio Cesar and Inter remain the team to beat. Losing Ibrahimovic could work one of two ways, either galvanising and strengthening the team or exposing the glaring deficiencies that have haunted Inter in Europe.

 By Michael Sinnerton

Have Barca lost it? Do they feel so deprived of the limelight by Real Madrid that it's come to this? What a ridiculous piece of business. If you haven't seen the news, Barcelona have agreed a deal in principle to sign Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Inter at the cost of £35m AND Samuel Eto'o AND Alex Hleb on loan for a year.

Maybe Liverpool will offer Valencia £30m and Fernando Torres for David Villa next. What are Barca thinking? Yes, Ibrahimovic is a fantastic player, regardless of the views of most casual English viewers, but is he going to get more goals than Samuel Eto'o who got 30 league goals last year. I'd expect a £35m striker to score at least 20 goals so ‘Ibra' needs to score 50 to prove his worth.

Eto'o is key to the way Barca play, he attacks at pace and really is their first line of defence. Zlatan is never going to be the first line of defence and so Barca will lose an element of the wonderful pressing game they have developed under Guardiola. The big Swede, whilst not being slow, also lacks the genuine pace of Eto'o. Given that Barca have a small squad quality wise letting Hleb go on loan as well seems strange to me, meaning two attacking injuries will lead to the promotion of untested youngsters.

There are positives I suppose, Barca will be getting a world class replacement, and Ibrahimovic will fit in nicely with their trademark one and two touch football. He will score goals, because how could he not, I would probably score a few in the company of Messi, Henry, Iniesta and Xavi. But do any Barcelona fans genuinely see this as a good move?

I know standing still in sport is akin to going backwards but I think one more year of the ‘Dream Team 2' would have still been more than successful. Ibrahimovic's signing threatens the way Barcelona defend from the front but more than that is just a terrible piece of business. If the move were a straight swap or even £5-10m I could understand but to haggle over David Villa at £40m and then give that plus your best striker to Inter is baffling. Let's hope it's all a ploy for Valencia's benefit.

By Michael Sinnerton

Had a very busy day so sadly haven't managed to do a proper football blog today. Instead I thought I'd take the time to pay tribute to the greatest tennis player ever.

How lucky we are to live at a time when Roger Federer struts his imperial stuff. 15 grand slams tournaments in just 6 years; it took Pete Sampras 12 years to get his phenomenal 14. Federer returned to world number one today, admittedly partly in the absence of Rafael Nadal through injury, but also after coming back from two heartbreaking five set defeats to the same man. Those two defeats at Wimbledon and the Australian Open could have led to Federer retiring early, instead he battled back and won the French Open title for the first time and regained his Wimbledon crown.

A clay court legend, whose name sadly escapes me, rates Federer as probably the third or fourth best player on clay ever. He is just unfortunate to have met the best clay courter of all time in final after final at the French. When time judges Federer though, having survived Nadal's onslaught to win more grand slams he may be held in even higher stead than had he won three or four French Opens. Andy Roddick's name must be mentioned here, so wonderful was his performance today. Though it will be of little consolation to him, he won many friends today and even the harshest of judges wouldn't begrudge him success next year (or at the US).

Those of us of English or Australian nature have the Ashes to look forward to this week as football takes a slight back-burner but it won't be long before football's back on our front pages as Franck Ribery is forced to move to Chelsea or David Villa makes Barca's dream team that little more special.

By Michael Sinnerton

Barcelona are in talks with Palmeiras over £12.8m rated striker Keirrison, something which raises several interesting talking points. Firstly and perhaps most obviously it seems to increase the possibility of an Eto'o to Manchester City story (City have just made a £25.5m bid). Personally I would rather see Eto'o stay and have one more, probably, glorious season with the new ‘dream team' but presuming he adapts to the Premiership ok there's no doubt he'll be a great signing (and will force Craig Bellamy out).

Secondly £12.8m is a huge amount of money pay for a 20 year old that has no experience of European football. On the plus side Keirrison was last year's top scorer in the Brazilian championship with 20 goals, has career stats of 89 goals in 158 games and has been linked with the big clubs before. Personally I hope that if Barca do sell Eto'o they sign David Villa as a replacement and use Keirrison as a replacement as I don't think Bojan is ready to step into the main role. Alternatively of course they could switch Thierry Henry to centre forward and bring in Franck Ribery.

The other interesting thing about this transfer is that it has cost the Palmeiras coach, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, his job. "Keirrison showed a lack of professionalism and respect towards me and the squad so, while I'm coach, he will no longer play for Palmeiras," Luxemburgo had said on his blog. Palmeiras were knocked out of the Libertadores Cup last week and Luxemburgo was sacked.

All this points to a further increase in player power given Luxemburgo is the most successful coach in the Brazilian championship (5 titles, 2 previously with Palmeiras). As if this small transfer story didn't have enough Keirrison is 80% owned by Traffic Sports Marketing so Palmeiras will only get 20% of any transfer fee. Perhaps some of it will go to Luxemburgo as a compensation package meaning the club will be nearly back where they started only without a manager and their best player.

Unfortunately for Brazilian clubs this process of 2 steps forward, 2 steps back shows little sign of abating.

By Michael Sinnerton

£18million for Roque Santa Cruz? Are you having a laugh? I know prices are inflated but we're talking about a player who has played ten seasons in Europe and scored more than 5 goals in only one of them.

Maybe he's built to play in the Premiership. After all he did score 19 goals in 37 games for Blackburn in 2007/08. The price seems way too high though, it seems this summer is going to be filled with clubs paying over the odds from Cristiano Ronaldo to Glen Johnson, so perhaps it's a bit harsh to pick on Santa Cruz but despite his goals for Blackburn I'm not totally convinced about him as a goal scorer.

Given Manchester City's aim is to at least break into the top four, a strike force of Craig Bellamy and Roque Santa Cruz seems a little short in quality to me (I'd like to see at least one world class striker, all the other top 4 clubs have one). Albeit a midfield of Elano, Barry, De Jong and Robinho sounds fairly decent. I'll stick my neck out now and call Roque Santa Cruz's move a flop and a waste of money.

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What odds on a football version of 20/20? We already have the format, 5-a-side football and I imagine fans would absolutely love a weekend tournament but to be honest there's probably too much football in the calendar already. Valdes, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi against Cech, Terry, Essien, Lampard and Drogba sounds pretty good though, Barca wouldn't have a bad "B team" either.

by Joel Abraham

What the hell happened to Manchester United?

Some of us expected a thrilling final, and were left disappointed. It was, in truth, a trifle dull. The general consensus seemed to be that if Barca scored first, it would force United to attack and lead to a great game. Instead, the game looked over as soon as Eto'o scored. The Catalans defended through the art of possession, which does not make for exciting football. After all, if the opposition don't have the ball, they can't score. Xavi and Iniesta were at their majestic best, passing around the United midfield as if they weren't there, but the Barca performance wasn't so much spectacular as efficient. Two defensive errors, two goals. Guardiola's side are not dissimilar to Mourinho's Chelsea of 2005.

United seemed to crumble defensively under the pressure of the occasion. Ferdinand and Vidic were both at fault for the goals. The second was utterly horrifying. To allow Xavi of all players that amount of time and space to cross, and to leave Messi completely unmarked in the area was utter suicide.

Fergie blew it. They fell into the Madrid trap rather than following the Chelsea blueprint. Ferguson saw Barca's depleted defence, and subsequently tried to outgun them rather than stifle them. Chelsea showed us how to play against Barca, to hassle Xaviesta, to defend in numbers, to sit deep and crowd out the final third.

Last night, we got Michael Carrick v Xavi, Iniesta and Messi. Carrick is good, but not that good. Anderson lacks the positional discipline to be an effective defensive midfielder, and who knows where Giggs was supposed to be playing? That midfield trio might've worked had they been sitting in front of the defence and closed down the Barca midfield, with Anderson to chase, Carrick to cover and Giggs to intercept. Perhaps with Park in the deeper role instead of Giggs, United may have had more luck.

The front three of Rooney, Ronaldo and Park left United with no real striker, with Ronaldo demanding the ball at every opportunity, shooting on sight, and fading into obscurity as the match progressed. It could be argued that this trio were effective against Arsenal, but it was only effective because Kieran Gibbs fell over and Ronaldo scored a free kick. Perhaps Berbatov should've started centrally, flanked by Rooney and Ronaldo.

At half time, with the problem clear, Ferguson swapped Anderson for Tevez, which proved to be a poor decision. Tevez's first touch has been appalling lately, which one might attribute to lack of playing time, but his introduction certainly didn't help United. The man is clearly unhappy at the club. Rooney on the left wing is something of a mystery, it seems almost designed to limit his involvement in the game, and Rooney does not perform well in big games.

The system was set up to counterattack. The major problem with this being that if you don't score first, you're stuck. They let Barca play their football, which was sheer madness. United were unbeaten in Europe for two years because Ferguson stuck to a cautious 4-5-1. The man is not a tactician, but he is lucky enough to have such a good squad that he can pick the wrong team and still win. Barca, by all accounts, should not have been in the final, having rode their luck against Chelsea and profited from some truly appalling refereeing decisions. Yet United failed to genuinely test a side who had been for the most part outplayed by Chelsea.

Ferguson clearly thought his team was stronger and would win in a pure football face-off. Had Ronaldo scored any of his early chances and United won 1-0, then we'd be hailing Fergie as a genius. Unfortunately, there was such a gulf in class in the midfield battle that Barca were in control for most of the game. Against Xaviesta, the two best midfielders in the world, who've been playing together since they were 11 years old, United were powerless to resist.

Chelsea afforded Barca plenty of possession, but didn't allow them any penetration. This is how you beat teams who like to keep the ball. If you defend in numbers, the opposition will pass the ball from side to side for long enough that they run out of ideas and give the ball away. I said yesterday that if Ferguson set out his team to stifle Barca, United would win. Unfortunately for him, he did the exact opposite.

By Michael Sinnerton

Just a few thoughts that I’m not sure have been properly voiced by the media this week. Whilst it’s not a major story given the goings on at the bridge I would like to have seen more commentators pick up on the swings and roundabouts of Chelsea v Barcelona. Given that it’s generally accepted that a farcical refereeing performance cost Chelsea the tie, I can’t understand why John’s Terry’s late winner in 2005 (4-2) that put Chelsea through hasn’t been brought up. A clear foul on the goalkeeper by Ricardo Carvalho was completely missed by the referee and Chelsea went through as a result. To me that means both teams have perhaps wrongly gone through to poor decisions. Two wrongs don’t make a right but they sure do even things up.

Another thing that has probably been brought up more in Spain, and even Italy is Guus Hiddink’s record. During the 2002 World Cup his South Korea side were the beneficiaries of a similar number of ludicrous decisions against both Italy and Spain. Perhaps this added to the Dutchman’s calm persona having on the other side of the fence on more than one occasion. Hiddink, who I thought tactically got things pretty much spot on (at least until Barca went down to 10), is undoubtedly a great manager but a lucky one. It was his PSV side remember who won the European Cup without winning a game in the latter stages.

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Lastly I notice there’s been a strange lack of sympathy for Eric Abidal despite his sending off against Chelsea. Even the most ardent Manchester United fan would have to argue that Abidal’s sending off was much harsher than Fletcher’s since he was neither last man nor committed the foul in the first place. I’m surprised that Barcelona haven’t brought this up but maybe they will if Fletcher does get his ban rescinded. I’m not against having an appeal in place and hope that UEFA stick by the red card decisions whilst bringing in an appeals process next year.