SPAOTP's Advent Calendar: Day 4

The fourth day of SPAOTP's Advent Calendar brings some light relief in the form of a dream I had last night. It went something like this...



And just to confirm, here are the answers to yesterday's quiz questions for you:

1) Failing a dope test
2) The ball burst in both finals
3) Pele
4) The ribbons in the colours of the losing team
5) Not turning up

More fun and hilarity tomorrow.

Bundesbag Week 14 - Olic restores some balance to Bayern

I didn't get to watch much Bundesliga action last week for reasons I won't bore you with. So this week's round-up promises to be shorter than the essays I've penned in the last couple of weeks. One of the few games that I did manage to catch was Bayern Munich's visit to an emotional AWD Arena to face Hannover.

The result was 3-0 to the visitors with goals by the excellent Thomas Muller who must be knocking pretty hard on Joachim Lowe's office door by now. However, it was Ivica Olic, back from injury who caught the eye. His work down the flanks caused Hannover problems all afternoon and was well worth his goal. Much has been made of the Munich club's marquee players such as Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben and Mario Gomez. But the return of the Croatian forward (signed on a Bosman from Hamburg) may yet prove to be Louis van Gaal's salvation. Gomez scored the third in the dying minutes.

Super Mario's old club Stuttgart had the onerous task of becoming Bayer Leverkusen's next victims. And it is a role they have been playing so well this season. Markus Babbel's men were rolled over 4-0 thanks to a whizz hat-trick by goal machine Stefan Kießling. He was ably assisted by Eren Derdiyock. The result has increased the grumpy setting at the Mercedes Benz Arena and the Stuttgart board have been compelled, once again, to publicly stand by their manager. The club announced that Babbel will stay in the job at least until the Winter Break. Given that the nights are drawing in that hardly seems like much comfort. However, the Bundesbag reckons that if they wanted to get rid of him they'd have done it by now. Furthermore, we reckon that if the Reds can make it into the knockout stages of the Champions League then their manager will be around in January to oversee their aforementioned magnificent rise up the table.

It's great to see Bochum recover some of their patented steeliness under new coach Heiko Herlich. Anyone who supports a medium-sized club punching above their weight will take an instant liking to this local Ruhr club situated between BVB and Schalke. At their best they are feisty, tenacious and no respecter of reputations and Herlich seems to have re-instilled those qualities that were missing at the start of the season. Not that I would have wanted to be in the crowd for their 0-0 snore-fest against the dismal Koln mind.

Speaking of dismal, I caught the goals in Hertha's 3-1 home defeat to Frankurt. New coach Friedhelm Funkel has made zero impact on his players and some of the defending was truly shambolic. The team look like they have given up the ghost frankly. The only consolation is the impending Winter Break. Perhaps the extended time off will give the Berlin players time to recover themselves. If there is one thing we do know about the modern Bundesliga it's that nothing is decided in the Hinrude. Ask Hoffenheim. Ask Wolfsburg.

Elsewhere, Freiburg made up for their 6-0 mauling to Werder Bremen with a solid 1-0 away win at Nurnberg who in turn were miffed at having failed to capitalise on their win against Wolfsburg last weekend. Meanwhile, Wolfsburg themselves were having a lovely time beating Bremen and knocking them off the top of the table until Per Mertesaker popped up to equalise. Hoffenheim were another team to experience a reversal of fortune after losing at home to Dortmund. Much like Schalke who were conquerors of Hannover last weak but surrendered to 'Gladbach this week.

Finally, Hamburg continue to lose ground on the leaders thanks to their indifferent form, not helped by European fixtures and an almost comically long injury list. They looked to have sealed a well earned 1-0 win at Mainz after youngster Tunay Torun scored is first goal of the season. But Thomas Tuchel's team were not to be denied and they. managed to find an equaliser at the end thanks to Tim Hooglan. Mainz are seventh in the table in their first season back in the Bundesliga. A fitting reward for bold attacking play and employing a manager who would not look out of place in a student grunge band.

That's it. Results and tables here. Don't forget to follow the Bundesbag on Twitter.

SPAOTP's Advent Calendar: Day 3

On Day 3 of SPAOTP's Advent Calendar, we bring you something to occupy your football brain in the shape of five quiz questions.

There's no prize on offer - just the chance to show your supreme intelligence when it comes to the beautiful game.

So here are those footy questions, and if you think you know any of the answers, leave us a comment and we'll tell you if you're right. All the correct answers will appear on tomorrow's Advent Calendar page.

Question 1:
Ernest Jean-Joseph of Haiti was the first World Cup player to be punished for what?

Question 2:
What rare event took place during the 1946 and 1947 FA Cup Finals?

Question 3:
Which World Cup superstar played his only game in London against Fulham in 1973?

Question 4:
What are always taken to the FA Cup Final but are never used?

Question 5:
In 1974, Exeter City were the first team in England to be fined for not doing what?

Jeu du Jour Week 14: Coupet breaks down

If we've convinced you of nothing else over the last thirteen weeks, it's that the top spot in Ligue 1 is something of a poisoned chalice. So it proved once again this week when Auxerre, form team of the moment and leaders after seven consecutive victories, were dislodged from first place by Paris Saint Germain.

A tight match saw the team from the capital rise to the challenge of beating AJA by matching them tackle for tackle and shot for shot at the Parc des Princes. With little to choose between them, it was PSG who took what was to be a decisive lead in the 67th minute when Jérémy Clément nicely headed in a cross from Brazilian defender Ceará.

The match remained close right to the very end but it was PSG that claimed all three points. One other notable incident from the match was the terrible injury suffered by PSG's 37-year-old keeper Grégory Coupet. He broke a bone in his ankle while running for the ball as it went off for a corner, caused, it seems, by his studs getting caught in the turf. Coupet fell awkwardly and in doing so snapped a bone in his lower-left leg – a scene which was gruesome enough to prevent us from giving you the gory details of the aftermath. Needless to say everyone in the world of French football and beyond wishes the keeper a speedy recovery from such a horrific incident.

That defeat for Auxerre allowed Bordeaux to return to the top again after they got their first win in three against Nancy on Sunday.

On a wet night, Bordeaux made light work of the home side who had little to offer in response to goals from Fernando, Wendel and Yoan Gouffran. Wendel's goal stood out amongst the three as the Brazilian finished off a nice move with a lovely lob over Gennaro Bracigliano in the Nancy goal.

So with Auxerre dropping to third, the champions find themselves back on top as Nancy drop into the bottom five. The team from Tomblaine have finished in the bottom half of the table for three of the last four seasons and could find themselves flirting with relegation this time around if they can't improve their consistency.

Lyon continue to hang onto Bordeaux's coat tails by the skin of their teeth after their 1-1 draw at home to Rennes. Lyon have failed to beat the visitors at the Stade de Gerland over the last few years, but Rennes themselves have been in poor form of late and could have been seen as an easy three points for the former champions.

As it is, Rennes took the lead after 14 minutes when Asamoah Gyan scored his eighth goal of the season. Lyon took a while to reply to that and had to make do with entertaining the 35, 978 crowd with some entertaining football along with Rennes, but the equaliser finally arrived three minutes before half time when Lisandro Lopez scored direct from a free kick to level the scores.

As the second half progressed, the chances of either side finding a winner receded although a late chance for both teams nearly changed all that in the dying minutes. Bafetimbi Gomis saw his effort pushed onto the bar by Rennes' 17-year-old second-choice keeper Abdoulaye Diallo with only a few minutes remaining, and with that the game ended in a draw for both sides.

Rennes' coach Frédéric Antonetti didn't travel with the team to Lyon having contracted the H1N1 virus, and indeed Swine Flu continues to have an impact on the top flight in France. This week's match between Monaco and Montpellier was cancelled when three of the Montpellier squad picked up the virus, causing the match to be postponed until a later date.

Montpellier remain fifth in the table for now, though, after Valenciennes (6th) lost 4-0 away to Lille. VA's first defeat in six looked rather unlikely as both teams laboured for much of the first half, but Pierre-Alain Frau broke the deadlock three minutes before the interval to give the home side the lead.

After the break, Ivorian striker Gervinho popped up with a brace to snuff out any hopes Valenciennes had of gaining even a point before Yohan Cabaye deservedly got on the scoresheet from the penalty spot just before the end of the game.

A good win, then, for Lille but they've still not reached mid-table yet. Toulouse have, however, after their 1-0 win at home to Boulogne which leaves them 10th in the table while Boulogne's miserable run without a win since August 22nd continues.

Grenoble remain ever hopeful of catching them – albeit one point at a time – after gaining their third successive draw away to Lorient on Saturday. The match ended 2-2 and reflected well on the bottom side given their opponents had climbed to fourth in recent weeks. In fact Grenoble were only seconds away from gaining their first win of the season when Kévin Gameiro made use of a goalkeeping error two minutes into stoppage time to salvage the draw. Agonising stuff for Grenoble, but a few small signs of recovery are definitely there.

Elsewhere, Nice had their run of four straight wins curtailed in a 1-0 defeat at Sochaux despite dominating for much of the match. Marseille, meanwhile, slipped up again with a 1-0 defeat of their own away to reigning Ligue 2 champions Lens. The winning goal came in the 93rd minute from Brazilian substitute Eduardo and will be a sucker punch for Didier Deschamps' side after a gruelling 1-1 draw against Milan last week.

Marseille still have their game in hand yet to play, but on current form you wonder if they'll get any use from it. They're down to eighth now and desperately need to get a win away to Nice next weekend.

Finally, the Battle of the Basement last weekend saw Saint Etienne and Le Mans play out a 1-1 draw which sees the latter go up a place from 19th to 18th. Les Verts stay one place above the relegation zone on 14 points.

STOP PRESS... PSG earned a convincing 5-2 win at Boulogne last night, scoring four goals in nine second-half minutes having gone 1-0 down just before the interval. The win sees PSG rise to seventh in the table while Boulogne stay second from bottom.

And that's about it for another Jeu du Jour. Full results and standings can be picked up here. For now though, it's à bientôt...