Friday, 22 February, 2008.

A very good morning to you, dear Soccerlens readers. Got an email this morning from Hugo telling me that he was emailing a few organisations to see if he could find some slaves for us. Or something to that effect. I’m pleased, of course, but a bit concerned Hugo – are we going for this or this

Anyway, on to the real stuff.

1. Capello wants England stars to give 100%

Insightful comments from Fab Cap – England players regularly underperform and were in fact at 80% in their 2-1 win against Switzerland. Capello isn’t shooting for the stars though – instead of asking for 110, 120 or 130%, he’s just asking for 100.

Cap’s also dismissed rumours that England’s players are tactically challenged:

“…English players are tactically fine, they know how to move tactically.”

Oh wait, weren’t they technically challenged Damn…

Still, a 20% improvement is a lot more than it seems – it would have meant a 4-0, 5-0 win against Switzerland, and even the anti-Capello brigade would have been satisfied with that result.

On to France then, and here’s hoping that Capello’s men perform to 100% of their potential – that in itself is more than they’ve done in last few years.

2. Chelsea are richer than Arsenal – or are they

On one hand, Chelsea’s turnover in 06/07 (thanks to their consistent performances in the domestic cups, the Premier League and the Champions League) is more than Arsenal’s (making the Gunners look silly for going on and on about their ‘financial strength’ early in the season). On the other hand, Chelsea made a £74.8m loss in 06/07 and despite Peter Kenyon insisting that they’ll break even by 09/10 (the new TV deal will certainly help, but how much), you feel that Chelsea still need a bigger stadium (and more time at the top) if they want to compete with Arsenal and Manchester United.

Also…the Sun reports that Rom’s spent 578m on Chelsea already. They make it sound like a crime, but frankly if I had the money to buy Manchester United I would have spent everything on it, regardless of whether I had to sell my soul or my house or not.

3. Spanish police too strong-handed

Another Uefa Cup tie in Spain, another English club complaining of their fans being baton-charged by the police. I feel for the Bolton fans, but these incidents are wholly avoidable and both sides – the fans, for not adjusting to the local situation and the police, for not showing more sense – are to blame.

4. Bayern thrash Aberdeen

And the fairytale comes crashing to a halt. Kudos to Bayern Munich for progressing (and props to Everton for their big win as well), and Alan – so much for this