When the media indulges in overkill

It was a fascinating week in British politics, because the media started to realise that they no longer had complete control over the electorate.

The papers and television tried in vain to make the public angry about the Prime Minister calling Gillian Duffy a bigot, but the reality was that we could see through their tactics.

The media's problem is that that they are too transparently hypocritical. On the one hand they ask us to be cynical about our politician's actions, and the next minute, as on Wednesday, they ask us to hold them to impossibly high standards.

So whilst the 24-hour news channels and Jeremy Paxman were frothing at the mouth over Gordon Brown's actions, the opinion polls revealed that the majority of people were largely apathetic, or could at least see the humorous side.

In this regard, programmes such as The Thick of It have helped. When we see the ministers desperately struggling to positively spin events in the face of a savage media and impressionable public, it helps humanise their plight. On Wednesday we simply couldn't help but feel some degree of empathy for the Prime Minister.

The fact that Gillian Duffy did indeed sound bigoted when talking about non-descript immigrants 'flooding in' did little to help her cause. When Newsnight went onto the streets of Rochdale (15.53 into the programme) in the aftermath, they found plenty of other people willing to spout similarly prejudicial views.

It would be nice to think that this could mark the point in election campaigns where the media stops deifying the general public, and that we can stop holding ourselves self-righteously as if we are all-knowing on all matters political.

It would also be nice to think that the media in this country might also try and reflect the real opinions of people on the street and not try to set the agenda themselves, as if operating in a vacuum.

Murdoch press
Slightly out of date piece now, but interesting none-the-less. I link it at the risk of looking as if I am covertly campaigning for the Labour party.

Gary Younge
Good article. Go and read.

Thom Yorke
And to keep things unnecessarily varied, a typically powerful song from Thom Yorke.

El Clásico review

Barcelona were more than comfortable in victory in last night's Clásico, a game that played in an entirely different manner to a typical La Liga game.

From the moment that the Catalans took the lead, they looked unlikely to relinquish it. Real created little danger, and were unable to keep possession for any meaningful length of time.

Typically in the Spanish game, defenders give more space to the ball carrier, stick to positions rigidly, and only attempt win the ball when they are certain they can.
They wait until the attacker runs at them before engaging, and even then usually to shepherd the player away from the goal rather than leaping in with two feet.

From the attacking standpoint, this approach rewards precise passing and moving between the more static targets, perhaps best exhibited by Barcelona's midfield and attackers, who play neat one-two's and take only the minimum necessary number of touches before laying the ball off again.

This style of play encourages players to run at each other and attack players one-to-one, as long balls and hopeful passes that are hit without thought (a sad mainstay of the English game) are easily intercepted.

It also shows respect towards the attacking game. The space is there if you make use of it, and defenders will only challenge for the ball when they are certain of winning it. This combination of factors creates a game that has the easy-on-the-eye flair, whilst providing more pace and tempo than the Italian variety.

However, this all went out the window last night as soon as the whistle was blown. Players closed each other down aggressively all over the pitch, responding to the sheer pressure of the occasion and the baying of the fans.

As a result, we were inevitably treated to a less spectacular game, but not without its stars. Indeed, those players who adapted best to the rough and tumble game were mostly wearing the red and blue shirts, most notably Xavi and Messi.

Messi-watch

Disturbing to see that we have already reached the stage where Messi is becoming deified. Every touch now seemingly requires the commentators to comment on his brilliance. After a blatant handball in the first half, Sky Sports' Terry Gibson said that the booking had been harsh, despite having just admitted that the player was using his arm to gain a deliberate advantage.

Messi of course, is not new to causing handball controversies. I wonder what our pundits would say about that goal if it had happened last night.

To summarise; it would be nice if pundits could admire players without fawning over them blindly.

Messi's goal though, gets better with every viewing.

Election overload

Whilst the media constantly asks the question of how we can engage an apathetic electorate in the run up to an election, it would be nice if they could occasionally take a look at themselves as being where the blame may lie.

On Tuesday, the day that Gordon Brown announced the date of the election that we had already known for a year, the BBC saw fit to fill the entire one o'clock news bulletin with an election preview, despite there being absolutely nothing of interest happening.

This is on day one of an exhaustive month that lies ahead. There is such as thing as election overload, and even as someone who has an avid political interest, I found it tiresome after 10 minutes.

Messi-watch
This is the week that England may finally have fully awoken to Lionel Messi's true brilliance. Although this blog can not be accused of having been guilty of such ignorance, I find it frustrating and shameful that it has taken many of our pundits this long to appreciate his ability, as did Sid Lowe. In this age where it is so easy to access foreign football coverage with such ease, it seems strange that we have waited this long to crown him as the world's best.

After all, he ran rings around Chelsea in the same competition back in 2006. It's yet another example of Britain's short-sightedness when it comes to acknowledging foreign football. This was further in evidence last night following Manchester United's exit from the Champions League. Both Mike Ingham and Alan Green trotted out the usual lines about United having fallen to an inferior team.

However you judge their relative strengths, the facts are that Bayern won and United are out. Whether Bayern are inferior has nothing to do with it. It was another case of English pundits bristling with irritation that the Premier League had failed to produce a European Cup semi-finalist.

Richard Littlejohn

It's easy to criticise, and Richard Littlejohn gave a perfect example of this on Question Time, exhibiting the expected behaviour of the obligatory right-wing columnist (see Starkey, Mackenzie, Hitchens) on the show.

While the party representatives attempted to dissect and argue the issues, every time Littlejohn assumed that the audience were getting lost in debate going over their heads, he leapt in and targeted a populist response with the familiar 'they're all the same' and 'what the British people want' rhetoric.

At one point in the aftermath of his attack on the Liberal Democrats, Littlejohn rested his hand on Sarah Teather's in a slightly sickening manner, bringing to mind the image of a lecherous news editor drooling over his new intern. Teather, to her credit, waited the moment out, although did subsequently struggle to formulate her subsequent argument, as any human would given the same position.

The most absurd moment was when Littlejohn had to bully a questioner into silence when the plausible suggestion that he was the BNP's favourite columnist was raised.

The Guardian writer Victoria Coren was also a weak link on the show however, offering meaningless throw-away points and pathetic jokes on serious issues. This does raise the question of why we need anyone other than politicians on Question Time. Why can we not have representatives from the Greens and UKIP and debate real policy instead?

The issue is that in this country we have a big problem with failing to hold our media accountable. David Dimbleby bumbles through in the manner of a Boris Johnson without the pseudo-charm, interrupting and cutting off the politicians, but consistently fails to cross-question the newspaper journalists on the points they make. When, at the end he turned on Littlejohn over the Daily Mail's reporting of Joanna Lumley, Dimbleby for a moment realised he had the columnist on the ropes, and immediately retreated.

Lionel Messi

Superb article from Sid Lowe as per usual on the utter brilliance that is Lionel Messi in his current form. As the article makes clear, whilst pundits often go overboard in their praise of players, Messi's skill, pace and awareness are something truly amazing to behold. If you can, get hold of a copy of Barcelona's game at home to Valencia last weekend, and away to Zaragoza's yesterday to witness it for yourself.

Despite the fact that his best play has been almost exclusively with Barcelona and not Argentina, football fans should be praying that Messi makes it to the World Cup this summer without injury.

Channel 4 election coverage

On the political front, another interesting article from today's Independent about Channel 4's plans for general election coverage this year, the only one of the main British news broadcasters (and arguably the best) not to be hosting one of the debates.

Forget the French resurgence, it's the Italians who will strengthen

The later stages of both European competitions inevitably produce the annual question of the relative strengths of the domestic leagues.

This last week has seen the surprise progress of CSKA Moscow after an away win in Sevilla in the Champions League, and Bordeaux join them in the quarter-finals, marking the first time that two French sides have reached the stage since the 2003-2004 campaign.

The Moscow result should perhaps be the most eye-catching, largely because it came away from home to a team from one of Europe's strongest leagues. CSKA's progress also comes in a year where Russian football is looking fragile, but should not come as a shock given the European successes of CSKA and Zenit since 2005 and the subsequent large-scale export of players, notably to the Premier League.

But the football world has instead reacted to Laurent Blanc's claims that his side's progress to the quarter-finals is indicative of a rise in the quality of the French league: "It could well mean that French football has bridged some of the gap behind the big countries like Spain, England and even Italy."

The problem comes when we attempt to utilise results in the European Cup as a barometer for the standard of a domestic league. The French teams that made the quarter-finals in 2004 did not go on to precede a period of Ligue 1 dominance across the continent. Indeed one of those sides, Monaco, have fallen away dramatically since.

Whilst the French media may be trumpeting the progress of Lyon and Bordeaux, the latter have not only been postponing domestic fixtures to increase preparation time, but beat Olympiacos in an unconvincing manner and are arguably the weakest remaining side. Lyon, meanwhile, are a side that has seen a huge financial backing from club president Jean-Michel Aulas and whose ambition has always been success on the European stage.

Ligue 1 however, is far from being a top domestic league in Europe. The current standard of play is below that of its neighbours, yet as Howard Johnson notes in the April edition of World Soccer, wages remain unfathomably high, leading to increases in fan disgruntlement, tensions and the threat of hooliganism.

UEFA is eager to promote the idea that the talent field in Europe is levelling out, which fits with the egalitarian approach adopted by Michel Platini since he came to Presidency; most notably reorganising the qualifying rounds for the European Cup and expanding the European Championships from 2016. On paper it appears to be working; teams representing six different nations have reached the final eight of the European Cup for the first time since 1999.


But the reality is that the Spanish and English leagues remain the 'big two' in terms of talent and revenues. Spain has it's own 'big two' issues to contend with, but the sheer scale and influence of both Real Madrid and Barcelona on Spanish culture and media rarely reduce the spectacle to being merely a two-horse dash for the title.

The Spanish league is home to more raw technical talent, players capable of playing a fast-flowing, one-touch game that can lead to extraordinary passages of beautiful football. The spread of competition is the Premier League's forté, where any fixture can produce any result. The Bundesliga is home to Europe's highest goals-per-game average and its best supporters, where standing areas are legalised and tickets affordably priced.

The Italian game is perhaps the most intriguing to watch over the upcoming seasons. Whilst the classic Italian strategy of absorbing opposition pressure and attacking on the counter produces league games that are difficult to watch to English viewers accustomed to a livelier pace, Internazionale's win at Chelsea on Tuesday night showed the possibilities of an aggressive tactical approach to the Italian public. It will be interesting to watch whether this approach begins to appear more regularly in the Italian domestic game over the course of the next few years, and if other Italian teams utilise a similar strategy, combining existing skills with a new approach.

In England we are often guilty of overlooking domestic leagues beyond our borders. As Cristiano Ronaldo left for Madrid, we pronounce Wayne Rooney as 'the best player in the world'. Just as we build up national expectations leading into international tournaments, we are so eager to protect our own game that we fail to appreciate the strong elements of others. With an increased appreciation of other leagues, results that occured this week could stop being analysed as 'the rise in strength of League X' and instead be appreciated as entertaining knock-out competition football.

Lyon defeat is a bitter blow for Madrid

This was truly a week of contrasting emotions for Real Madrid, as the highs of Saturday night at the Bernabeu met the crushing lows of Wednesday night's exit from Europe's elite football competition.

The spirit shown in the Madrid comeback win against Sevilla was in complete contrast to the listless manner in which they lost to Lyon last night. It is difficult to suggest reasons for two such differing displays, but the emotional momentum for the remainder of the La Liga season could have shifted once more towards Catalonia.

Spanish pundits had been suggesting that all was not well in the Barcelona camp during the 'slump' in performances in February, when even Pep Guardiola acknowledged that his team's efforts were not at an acceptable level. Furthermore, last weekend's events had left many commentators speculating that the title had taken it's first significant turn, Barcelona held 2-2 at Almeria, whilst Madrid took the three points against a competent visiting side that had edged to a 0-2 lead after 52 minutes.

And whilst there was talk of Real being the team of individuals that quarrelled over who was getting the ball passed to them enough times in the chase for the Pichichi, it seemed little more than tittle-tattle targeted at the side, of the big two, who were on the up.

The Lyon defeat will test these supposed player tensions in a way that even a La Liga defeat would not. The European Cup is Madrid's trophy, the competition that matters so highly in the club's priorities, that defines their legacy and image. The final is to be held in the Bernabeu this May, and Real will not be there to grace that stage, a bitter blow to the club's pride. God forbid for the Madridistas that Barcelona should make it that far.

Make no mistake, this Real team has the makings of a fantastic side, and they look more settled this season than they have for several campaigns of late. Players such as the explosive striker Gonzalo Higuaín should light up the World Cup come the summer, and even combinations of players that critics declared would fail, such as Ronaldo and Kaka, have largely proved to be successful.

But the defeat on Wednesday night marks the sixth consecutive season in which they have exited the Champions League at the first knockout stage, arguably when the competition really begins, a startling statistic given the financial expenditure in this same period of time.

The loss puts yet more focus on the one game that everyone in Spain is now focused on, despite the fact that 13 rounds of the league remain. The remainding Clásico of the season takes place in Madrid on April 11th, and will almost go a long way in deciding where the trophy is headed at the conclusion of the season. As things stand, it is a far more significant milestone for Madrid than their Catalan rivals.