Colossus Blog • 6th May 2019

Weekend Round Up: Gunners Misfire

It is the time of the season column writers dread. All too often, everything of note has been settled already: that is emphatically not the case this year. The Premier League title race is providing the most obvious drama, but the battle for Champions League qualification also continues to take new twists. Meanwhile, the relegation picture in France is still not settled. We start, however, with the conclusion of a cup competition. The KNVB Cup, essentially the Dutch equivalent to The FA Cup, c

Colossus Blog • 23rd April 2019

Weekend Round Up: All Eyes On Premier League As PSG & Juve Wrap Up Titles

With just weeks remaining in the football season, the titles races in Europe’s biggest leagues will soon be decided. Manchester City and Liverpool are still scrapping it out in the Premier League just as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are in Germany. Meanwhile, PSG and Juventus had opportunities to seal their own domestic titles this weekend. James Martin reviews the weekend’s action for us. Perhaps motivated by their elimination from Europe, City were efficient in their defeat of Spurs in

Colossus Blog • 18th March 2019

English sides back among Europe's elite - 7 Points in 7 Days

Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea all delivered this week to help send a remarkable six English teams through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and Europa League. This was just one of the narratives unfolding on the European stage – there was also high drama in Turin, and in the more far-flung location of Krasnodar. The domestic front also saw plenty of action. The week started with something of a gaffe. The winner of the Irish Young Player of the Year award was announ

Colossus Blog • 11th March 2019

Shocker from Paul Tierney helps send City on their way against Watford

The Champions League did not disappoint this week, producing unbelievable drama in which all four of the underdogs at the time the ties were drawn ended up progressing to the quarter-finals. Similar shocks in the Europa League coupled with some exciting league action made for an exciting seven days. Before all of this unfolded, however, some footballers had a bit of fun for pancake day. There were different techniques on display – John Terry cracked out some silky skills, juggling his pancake w

Colossus Blog • 4th March 2019

Was Jurgen Klopp's midfield selection to blame for slip up at Everton?

What’s better than a week with one El Clasico? Try one with two – Barcelona made two trips to Madrid in the space of 72 hours. In fact there were derbies galore from around Europe, which made for seven days of entertaining viewing. The first derby of the week was the fierce clash between Istanbul rivals Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe. The two are usually fighting it out at the top of the table, but in this campaign Fenerbahçe have found themselves in a shock relegation battle; Beşiktaş are some way

Colossus Blog • 25th February 2019

Sarri's Kepa sub attempt ends in a farce in the EFL Cup final against City

The remarkable altercation between Kepa and Maurizio Sarri in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final could probably fill all seven of this week’s points, but there is lots more to discuss from an action-packed week. That said, there is only one place to start this column. Chelsea began their week with a 2-0 defeat to Manchester United, bringing their recent record against Manchester clubs to eight goals conceded without reply. The Blues looked bereft of ideas, and murmurs about Sarri’s future started to be

Colossus Blog • 18th February 2019

Declan Rice gives Mick McCarthy the cold shoulder as he chooses to play for England

The Champions League rolled back into town this week, bringing with it the usual array of quality and drama. There was duly no shortage of action despite the break from the Premier League. Borussia Dortmund should have known that it was going to be an unpleasant trip to London from the moment they reached the airport. Jadon Sancho and teammate Abdou Diallo were responsible for the most inauspicious start possible ahead of their Champions League meeting with Spurs, forgetting their passports and

Colossus Blog • 11th February 2019

Sarri under pressure as Man City hit Chelsea for six

A 21-year-old forward leaving Messi in his wake in La Liga, an abundance of goals and comebacks and a managerial debut for one of the Class of ’92: it was a varied and eventful week in football, and Seven Points has you covered. Lucien Favre’s Borussia Dortmund have rightly been attracting a lot of plaudits this season – any side still leading Bayern in the table come February are certainly doing something right. However, it was a rare bad week at Signal Iduna Park. Things got off on the wrong

Colossus Blog • 4th February 2019

Rangers were awarded as many as 4 penalties against St Mirren.

It was a week of upsets across Europe, with the likes of Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Juventus all succumbing to defeats at various points. Perhaps the biggest shock of the lot was Monaco finally winning: one way or another, it was not a good week to put on an accumulator. On Saturday Bayer Leverkusen came from behind to triumph over Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich 3-1. Leon Goretzka had given Bayern a half-time lead, but goals from Bailey, Volland and Alario turned the game on its hea

Colossus Blog • 28th January 2019

Robin van Persie bags a brace as Feyenoord thrash Ajax.

This week was marred by tragedy. Emiliano Sala, travelling to Cardiff for what should have been the start of an exciting chapter in his career, went missing on his flight to Wales. The plane disappeared from radar over the English Channel, and he and the pilot are now presumed to be dead. All our thoughts are with their families at this distressing time. The week’s football pales into insignificance in comparison, but there was nonetheless plenty of action from around the world. Der Klassiker L

Colossus Blog • 21st January 2019

You'd hope a £20 million footballer would at least be able to put their boots on?

Spygate rumbles on, but if the action on the pitch continues to be as scintillating as it was this week then it seems only a matter of time before it is forgotten. The Premier League served up not one but two 4-3 score-lines, Atletico were on the end of an upset in the Copa del Rey and PSG smashed nine goals past Guingamp. Marcelo Bielsa induced panic amongst plenty of Leeds United fans when he called an emergency press conference this week. Rumours had begun to circulate shortly beforehand tha

Colossus Blog • 14th January 2019

Messi's 400th La Liga goal - Seven Points in Seven Days

It’s rarely a dull week in football, but a seven days that has given us a spying scandal and multiple goals from keepers has to go down as eventful even by the usual standards. Just to top things off, the greatest player ever to grace the game reached yet another personal milestone. There is precious little Tyne-Wear action since Sunderland’s freefall from the Premier League, but there was a derby of sorts this week in the Checkatrade Trophy. Newcastle are one of the top tier sides to have agre

Colossus Blog • 8th January 2019

Cesc Fabregas looks set to leave Chelsea for Monaco

Serie A has now shut down for its winter break, but football is slowly ramping up again elsewhere across Europe. Meanwhile, the action plods relentlessly on in England: this week saw plenty of league and FA Cup activity. Two years of injury hell. Eleven operations. Warnings that he would be lucky to walk again. It is a miracle that Santi Cazorla is still playing football, never mind scoring a brace to secure a draw against Real Madrid. However, that is exactly what he did for Villarreal. He ret

Colossus Blog • 31st December 2018

Man City vs Liverpool looms as Guardiola steadies ship with win over Southampton

As many countries wind down their leagues for a winter break, English football remains as chaotic as ever. Most of the talking points this week come from a mad seven days across the UK: welcome to the final Seven Points of 2018. The Championship went a bit mad this week. A lot of the games resembled FIFA more than they did real football – goals were flying in almost non-stop, many of them deep into added time. Norwich were involved in both a 3-3 and a 4-3. They produced a dramatic comeback in t

Colossus Blog • 10th December 2018

7 Points in 7 Days - River Plate overcome fierce rivals to win Copa Libertadores

It has been a truly action-packed seven days in football, so much so that some very notable goings-on have missed the cut. The rumoured sale of Newcastle, a 6-goal thriller between Sassuolo and Fiorentina and even a dog saving a certain goal in Argentina ultimately did not make the list – this says it all about the seven points that have been included. The Ballon D’Or provided an eventful start to the week. In the mens category, Croatia’s Luka Modric finally broke the stranglehold that Messi an

Colossus Blog • 26th November 2018

7 Points in 7 days - Eibar manage to smash Real Madrid in La Liga.

The final to end all finals was meant to be the showpiece of this week’s column, but there is the small issue that it still hasn’t happened. The second-leg clash between River Plate and Boca Juniors in the Copa Libertadores was marred by ugly scenes in the build-up to the planned kick-off, and the fixture has had to be pushed back multiple times. Hopefully it will eventually be played, at least the week was not short on action without it. Kicking things off on a bizarre note, Millwall’s game ag

Colossus Blog • 12th November 2018

Diego Godin to the rescue for Atleti as they close gap on Barca - 7 Points in 7 Days

The FA Cup got underway properly this week with the commencement of the first-round fixtures, and the football world paid fitting tribute to the tournament with a host of goal- fests and upsets across multiple competitions. It seems only right to begin with a talking point from the FA Cup itself. The Premier League teams don’t enter until the third round, but there were still plenty of Football League reputations on the line as sides as far up as League One took on opponents from further down t

Colossus Blog • 29th October 2018

7 points in 7 days featuring Real's horror show at the Camp Nou

This is a week where the relative insignificance of on-pitch results on has been reinforced by tragic events off it. Nonetheless, seven days of domestic and European has produced a number of talking points. Liverpool Go Top of Group C Group C of the Champions League saw plenty of goals this week as Liverpool hosted Red Star Belgrade and Napoli travelled to PSG. It was ultimately a comfortable night under the lights at Anfield for Jurgen Klopp’s men. Roberto Firmino opened the scoring after a t

Colossus Blog • 22nd October 2018

7 points in 7 days - the best and the bizarre from the past week in football

This week saw a blend of the global and the domestic. The last throes of the international break produced some talking points, but much of the biggest news of the last seven days has come from the newly-returned league action. It is almost unbelievable that Gibraltar have made this column two weeks running, but the side which had never picked up a competitive point a fortnight ago has once again earned an inclusion. The British Overseas Territory is not exactly known for its footballing prowess

Colossus Blog • 8th October 2018

7 points in 7 days - a tough week for Steve Bruce. Feature for Colossus Bets

It has been a truly incredible week of football – some of the things that have gone on frankly beggar belief. From an accidental entry into the FA Youth Cup to a substitute hattrick in the Bundesliga via a 17-goal thriller and a vegetable-based assault, there is plenty to talk about. The FA Youth Cup likes an underdog story just as much as its parent competition does, but there can be few better beginnings to a fairy-tale cup run than a side being entered by mistake. This was exactly what happe