Who Is Hot and Who Is Not in World Football After Weekend of November 22-24
As domestic football reclaimed its rightful place as the weekend focus following the last international break of 2014, we took a look around the biggest leagues in the game to pick out our choices for this week's "Hot or Not" column.
Hot: those who have been in good recent form, had a particularly telling impact on a significant fixture or are otherwise worthy of positive mention.
Not: the individuals who failed to aid their team as they should, who were perhaps particularly at fault for a defeat or failure to win or who else negatively impacted a game or poor recent run of form for any other reason.
Here are our choices; feel free to add your own below.
Hot: Lionel Messi
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In this series, we usually steer clear of the biggest two names in the game, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, for one very good reason: They're hot most weeks, and everybody knows it. But when one of them does something particularly outstanding, even by their standards, they deserve to be acknowledged, too.
So, step forward Lionel Messi, our first "Hot" name for the week. He returned to goalscoring form in La Liga with a hat-trick against Sevilla on Saturday, breaking the longstanding record for highest scorer ever in the Spanish top flight in the process.
His goals came as a major part of a 5-1 win for Barcelona.
Not: Rene Girard
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To Ligue 1 now and Lille, where boss Rene Girard is struggling to help the team achieve anything like the third-place finish of last season.
They lost 2-0 at Stade de Reims last time out and are currently in 14th place, 11 points behind Lyon in third and without a win in eight games in all competitions—and with four defeats in the last five in the league.
A game against Bordeaux next weekend isn't going to make things any easier, but Girard must turn the tide soon.
Hot: Mario Gotze
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Bayern Munich continued their dominant form with a 4-0 win over Hoffenheim at the weekend, another match which brought a customary clean sheet and glut of goals scored at the other end.
Best and first of those goals was scored by Mario Gotze, who has been showing a greater level of consistency this season and is now the joint-top scorer in the Bundesliga, with seven strikes to his name.
If he keeps putting in performances of this kind it won't just be domestic trophies which could come Bayern's way this season.
Not: Liverpool's Entire Defence
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Almost to a man, Liverpool's defence once more pulled out a dreadful performance to concede the lead and consign themselves to defeat against Crystal Palace at the weekend, shipping in three more goals. That's nine conceded in the last five league games and four defeats on the trot in all competitions.
Dejan Lovren was comedic in his attempts to stop the winner, while Glen Johnson could not have put less effort in if he tried.
Javi Manquillo at least came out of the game with some credit, but he was pretty much alone among the Reds' back six players in that regard.
Hot: Paul Pogba
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Another game, another win for Juventus, with Paul Pogba once more being the key midfield man who managed to break the lines to best the opposition.
The Frenchman scored twice in a 3-0 away win over Lazio, keeping Juve three points clear at the top after a third consecutive Serie A win, finishing well twice either side of a Carlos Tevez strike.
Pogba showed good movement and a willingness to move beyond the front two throughout the game, an important trait for a team who play with the ball high in the opposition half. His coolness in the box and two-footed ability are impressive in the extreme.
Not: Marco Silva
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It's still just not quite happening for Marco Silva at Sporting Lisbon.
The manager saw his side have to come from behind to secure a 1-1 home draw against Pacos de Ferreira at the weekend, not managing to find the win even as Pacos were down to 10 men for the final 15 minutes or so.
Silva has guided Sporting to just four wins from 10 league games this season, and they sit in eighth, in what is usually a three-team race for the title. He also faces a big game against Maribor in the Champions League in midweek—one Sporting must win if they hope to make the knockouts.
Hot: Paulo Dybala
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Palermo made it four games without defeat at the weekend as they continue to evolve and establish themselves as a top-flight side again after promotion last season, with forward Paulo Dybala continuing his own recent hot streak.
The young forward played superbly against AC Milan not long ago, scored and was spoken about in glowing terms, though the feeling was that he had to produce the goods more often.
Well, he's now scored in three consecutive games, including in the 1-1 draw at the weekend, with four goals in his last six. Consistency has been built; now, it has to be maintained.
Not: Aaron Ramsey
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We finish up in the Premier League, where Arsenal came under even more pressure at the weekend after a 2-1 home defeat to rivals Manchester United.
Aaron Ramsey was one of the Gunners' key players last season but is hugely off the pace this term, not getting into as many scoring positions. He is certainly not being as clinical and is even struggling with his general midfield play, simple passes and impact on games.
He was largely anonymous against United—after similar showings against Anderlecht and Swansea City—and it didn't help that his replacement, Olivier Giroud, scored just a few minutes after coming on in his first game back from a broken leg.
Much more is needed from Ramsey if Arsenal are to turn around their latest flop in form.
