by Joel Abraham

I like Manchester City. I wrote a few months ago about how I was relishing the prospect of a star-studded City XI, and with Kaka seemingly close to becoming the newest recruit, I can't bloomin' wait.

People are constantly lecturing us on how £108m could be better spent, how Mark Hughes needs a team of grafters and warriors to shore up the defence. Maybe, but wouldn't you much rather be watching Kaka?

I think Man City should be applauded for their pursuit of players like Robinho and Kaka, who make the game worth watching. Surely this is preferable to the philosophies of cloggers like Gary Megson and Tony Pulis, whose sole aim to to strangle the life out of any game they take part in?

At worst, Kaka becomes a hilarious expensive flop. At best, we get to see one of the world's finest footballers producing his artistry on a regular basis. This does of course beg the question as to whether any footballer could ever live up to such a price tag, but it's a question we should ignore for the sake of the beautiful game.

It's an obscene amount of money. Yet I find the idea of Abu Dhabi's oil money being poured into football a lot more palatable than Abramovich's cash, which by all accounts should've remained in the Russian public services sector.

Arsene Wenger is claiming this is terrible for football, immoral, unfair. Possibly, but until every other Premier League club is owned by oil barons, I suggest we enjoy Man City for the novelty act that they have become.

P.S. On a side note, I find the moral dilemma for Kaka himself utterly fascinating. As a devout Christian who allegedly has no interest in money, is he about to sell his soul for £1m a month?

by Michael Sinnerton 

With all four Premier League teams either top of their Champions League groups or having taken maximum points it's time for that age old argument about the best league in the world.

The Premier League is the most watched league in the world, has the European Champions, the European runners-up and the top four have all made the Champions League final in the last 3 years.

The League still has a veil of unpredictability with Arsenal already losing to Fulham and Hull, Liverpool being held by Stoke and Manchester United by Newcastle. Admittedly the top four will probably end up the same as last year (Aston Villa may challenge Arsenal) but then Spain's top four is likely to contain at least 3 of Barcelona, Sevilla, Atletico and Valencia whilst Italy's will surely contain at least 3 from Inter, Juventus, Fiorentina and Roma.

However the league's second tier sides are where the argument has weakness. With Everton going out of the UEFA cup to Liege, Tottenham bottom of the league and struggling past Wisla. (The two teams to most closely challenge the top 4 in recent years) whilst Valenica and Espanyol (Getafe amongst others) regularly do well in Europe as do AC Milan, Sampdoria and sometimes Lazio.

Having said that Valencia struggled last year, and it may be that Aston Villa and Manchester City may be the Premier League's next strongest representatives rather than an Everton team who may have peaked (at least temporarily). Both Vila and City have the finanical capacity to go one step further something which Spanish and Italian teams probably lack.

The League's wages are higher, the clubs spend more money on transfers and this is bound to attract the best players and managers. If England had Spain's climate there would be very little reason for foreign players not to move.

Despite this there were less goals/game in the Premiership last year than in most of the other European leagues, with the Bundesliga the best value for goals. La Liga still has an element of the unknown and is the breeding ground for young South American talent. The likes of Messi, Aguero, Fernandez and Dani Alves (to name but a few) were always much more likely to join LA Liga, partially due to a technical capacity for football that can arguably not been found in the Premierships  "kick-and-rush" culture.

I am a huge La Liga fan but I don't think you can beat the Premiership for pure excitement and adrenalin.

But my favourite League in the world, despite it's dimunitive size and lack of status has to be the Isles of Scilly (where else) Football League which is a scilly little league with only two teams.

http://www.worldssmallestleague.co.uk/html/league_table.html

The Garrison Gunners and the Woolpack Wanderers make up the League (a massive 12 game fixture list) as well as having four cup competitions. The league whilst perhaps more predictable than the Premiership (the same two teams make the finals every year) has a charm about it that I can't help but love. Obviously I've never seen a game but the Gunners are running away with the league this year largely thanks to the hugely unheralded Adam May, a part-time retailer who you shouldn't expect to be gracing our shores any time soon despite his impressive goal record.

The Garrison Gunners against Manchester United for a best league in the world title? Don't count on it.

by Stuart Gillespie

So, where are we at? Well so far Cherno More have beaten Sant Julia 9-0 on aggregate, Man City have played about 15 games (all unconvincingly), Young Boys have spunked on some Hungarians at the Wankdorf, and it has been announced that this 38th edition of the mind-boggling competition will be the last.

And we haven't even reached the group stage yet.

Are our teams likely to get there? Let's find out...

Aston Villa (3) v Litex Lovech (1)

Put simply, yes, Aston Villa are likely to get through. It was a kind draw and the Premier League high flyers have gratefully placed one-and-a-half feet in the group stage at the expense of the unknown Bulgarians.

Man City (2) v Omonia Nicosia (1)

Omonia Nicosia may not be a household name, but they are no mugs and City did well to leave Cyprus with a first leg lead. Of course a lot has happened since then, with defeats to Brighton & Hove Albion and Wigan seeing Sulaiman-ia dampened somewhat. But with that crucial advantage from the away leg and the talent they have at their disposal, City should have no problems progressing to the next phase.

Motherwell (0) v Nancy (1)

Mark McGhee's side did well to hold relative giants Nancy to a one-goal advantage in France, though they remain underdogs going into the second leg. But despite their struggles in the SPL this season, Well have a good group of players and are by no means out of this tie.

Standard Liege (2) v Everton (2)

Everton look to have the toughest task ahead of them if they want to reach the group stage. Their lack of summer spending has seen them eclipsed by rivals Villa, Man City and Portsmouth in the Premier League, and their uncharacteristic defensive frailty this season was evident in the first leg draw with the Belgians. Liege came so close to putting out Everton's city rivals Liverpool in Champions League qualifying and will rightly be confident of piling more misery on already worried Toffees fans.

Vitoria Guimaraes (0) v Portsmouth (2)

Harry Redknapp's men have a good advantage from the first leg, but in that match Guimaraes missed a penalty at 1-0 that would have given the Portuguese an intriguing away goal. As it stands they'll still be a danger at home, though it'll be a surprise if Portsmouth are unable to finish the job.

Wisla Krakow (1) v Spurs (2)

Where to start with Tottenham? Much has been written elsewhere (including on this blog) about their horrific start to the season. Whoever's to blame (and, as usual, it's probably a combination of factors), things won't be any easier in Poland tonight. Between 2001 and 2006 Wisla went 73 matches unbeaten at home, and although they haven't had much success in European competition recently, a tricky trip to Krakow is undoubtedly one of the last things Spurs need at the moment. Of course successful negotiation of this tie could kick-start Tottenham's season. But, on current form, the more likely scenario is the overturning of their slender 2-1 lead and yet more pressure being heaped upon on Juande Ramos.

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So there we have it. Britain should have a few representatives in the asymmetrical group stage, and possibly more than a few. But the competition is in desperate need of next year's long overdue revamp. The Europa League may be more of a gentle tweaking than the rebranding suggests, but the changes should be for the better. The Intertoto Cup will be absorbed into the qualifying rounds and the group phase will come at the beginning of the competition, rather than in the middle, featuring even numbers of teams with home and away legs. 

Cherno More? Unfathomable format no more, with any luck.