Midweek musings

So it's kind of a slow news cycle this week with the Champions League and Europa Cup on holiday, or at least taking a week off before they have at each other again next week.

But here's what is going on around the globe right now...

Gianfranco Zola is most likely the next name to be on the chopping block following West Ham's horrific defeat at the hands of Wolverhampton, 3-1, which had been phrased a "must win" match by United's new owners David Gold and David Sullivan, who had bought down United's £110 of debt with an influx £50.

Pressure is ever mounting on the club and Zola, who have now lost 5 straight game and sit just three points clear of Hull and Burnley in the relegation zone. Chants of "you're not fit to wear the shirts" rang loud and clear at Upton Park.

The biggest problem may be that West Ham could become the next Portsmouth. Already virtually crippled financially should the team be relegated, which looks like it could be enivitablity due to the sluggish display of form lately and no Carloz Tevez to come in and save the day this year, West Ham as a club would lose £60 million.

Harry Harris story on ESPNsoccernet described the dire situation perfectly in a couple of paragraphs, "Time is running out, the drop is looming ever closer, and it remains to be seen how much longer Gold and Sullivan can give Zola with so much at stake. Potentially the very survival of the club is the issue, not just their Premier League status.

"The owners described the possibility of relegation as "Armageddon" and the club are now facing that reality unless they act to stop the rot. They almost seemed to be having a board meeting when the third goal went in as Sullivan and Gold were chatting to those closest to them in the directors' box. They all seemed extremely agitated.

"Gold and Sullivan expected at least four points from Tuesday's game with Wolves and Saturday's clash against Stoke, but that is not going to happen."

As the lone voice of opposition to his club's buying practices, Andrey Arashavin has been spouting off the same rhetoric most Arsenal fans have called for the last few years - to buy more players to compete against the big boys of England and Europe for more trophies.

Yesterday he bemoaned his club for selling off both Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor in the summer and only replacing them with one player Thomas Vermaelen. Despite the fact that Arsenal are only two points adrift of Manchester United in the English Premier League and now in the Elite 8 of the Champions League, Arshavin believes Arsenal need three and perhaps four more players to realistically compete each season, according to another ESPNsoccernet story.

"I am still of the opinion that to win trophies Arsenal needs more players,'' Arshavin is quoted as saying in the Sun. "There is the simple fact that last summer we sold two players and bought only one. So there is an obvious deficit of at least one. Then we lost Van Persie, Gibbs and Ramsey for a long time. So for me it is natural we need new players.

"Without the variety of players we have less diversity in attack. That allows our opponents to read our combinations more easily. Finally, it results in less ball possession for us and our defence comes under more pressure.

"The Premier League is very interesting, at least as long as we continue fighting to win it. But without new experienced players, real stars, it will be difficult to achieve success. Ideally we need three or four such experienced players and then among our youths there should be guys who are not only good at playing football but have real character.''

And it takes a big man to admit he is wrong, but I may have been premature to elevate Wayne Rooney above Lionel Messi in the debate about the best players in the world. I remain firm in my belief that Ronaldo, Messi, and Rooney are the top three best by a wide margin and that if you were starting a club you would be supremely happy to have any one of the three, but Messi is showing in the month of March why he won the Ballon d'Or as best European Footballer and Fifa World Player of the Year last season.

Messi has had a rich run of form lately - actually that does not even begin to describe what he has done - the little man from Argentina had been Superman quite simply. Up until Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a 90th minute penalty (set up by a run of Messi) Messi had scored all eight of Barcelona's league goals in the month of March - eight straight including two vs. Almeria, a hat trick vs. Valencia, and a natural hat trick in the first half vs. Zaragoza over the weekend. And that does not count the two he poured in vs. Stuggart last week in the Champions League as Barcelona breezed to a 4-0 pounding of the German side at the Nou Camp.

Messi has 34 goals on the season for Barcelona and 25 in La Liga. Here are the highlights of his brilliant work over the weekend, check out the second goal, special comes to mind.