Return of… The UF Power Poll!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Power Poll has returned for its second season. As Paulie Cicero might say… “Now we can eat!”

A powerful Polish man, not be confused with our Power Poll

On the menu this Friday afternoon: Some old favorites, as reigning European champs Barcelona have made a predictably strong start, along with a few new dishes. Cockerel, anyone? How long these early favorites survive in our ultra-tasty and always competitive kitchen remains to be seen, but for now the consensus is pretty strong. There is little separation between third and ninth place, which mirrors the admittedly small sample size.  Injuries have already taken a bite out of The Poll’s lone debutante side… and Uefa just spilled soup all over our second-ranked club’s posh trousers.

1 – Barcelona (1.25)
The champs got off a to a banging start, beating down on lowly Gijon, and doing it for all the world to see. Most promising was the performance from new boy Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who looks like he’s already bought into Barca – Mes que un club mes que Eto’o ever did, or would. Still, they could miss the kind of selfish Eto’o play that put them one-up against United in Rome.

2 – Chelsea (2.38)
Forged in heat and pressure over thousands of years, or tinkered into place over the course of a few training sessions, however it goes, the much speculated-upon diamond midfield has been a shimmery success through the season’s first four matches. After a dicey first half to their first game, Chelsea has positively manhandled their opponents, outscoring them 10 to 2. But things are going to get tougher in the coming weeks (and months), with matches against fellow 100 percenters Spurs and a visit to Stoke.

3 – Real Madrid (4.38)
Raul and Ronaldo have already opened their accounts as the Nuevo Galacticos fought off a plucky Deportivo side in the season opener in Madrid. We’ll not rehash the club’s summer in this space, but let’s just say, they’ll have to do better to please the Bernabeu crowds, who are rightfully frothing for dominating performances all season long.

4 – Arsenal (5.88)
Such a shame their fantastic early season form has been marred by The Eduardo Incident and that unlucky twist last weekend at Old Trafford. Troubles aside, no side has looked so damn brilliant as those Gooners in their first five matches. Should they stay healthy (we really need a shorthand for that caveat, especially with Arsenal) there’s no reason they won’t be there right at the very end in both Europe and the Prem. Arshavin is a magic pixie– and a mean little f**ker to boot. A real pleasure to watch a man play the game like he does.

5 – Manchester United (6.13)
United are, for now, looking a bit like Dustin Hoffman at the beginning of The Graduate. They’re “just drifting.” An understandable loss to Burnley is still a loss to Burnley. SAF didn’t even complain about the officials! And they’ve failed to inspire on the field as well, aside from that rip-roaring second half at Wigan. All that said, they sit in third, with nine points from four games and a tittilating trip to North London on the docket for next weekend.

6 – Inter Milan (6.5)
A tale of two games for Mourinho’s men. They open against Serie A newbies Bari and just hold on for an unsinspiring draw (I saw the end, they were thisclose to losing at the death.) But as it turns out, past performance is, indeed, not indicative of future results. Someone should have read that warning to the Rossoneri before last weekend’s Milan derby. Inter squashed their intra-city rivals 4-0, with goals from Motta, Milito, Maicon (grrrrr), and Stankovic. It’s early, but it gets late around then in Italy. The question now turns to their Champions League play. That’s where The Special One earns his money.

7 – Tottenham Hotspur (6.75)
Undefeated through four, Spurs have won with all their grit and cunning. The latter is familiar at WHL, the grit, the toughness on the road and through adversity is what’s been so shocking, and for some of us, refreshing. (I don’t include The Sports Guy here. Though his nascent fan-ship is cute and always clever, I’m already girding myself for the inevitable bandwagon jump. Prove me wrong, Simmons! He’ll get his chance soon enough.) Anyway, we digress. The lads fall a bit here because of the Modric injury, but there’s no reason they can’t be in and out of this poll throughout the campaign. There is tons of depth in the midfield, the wounded central defense is returning to fitness, along with the keeper, who maaaaaaybe could play against United a week Saturday.

8 – Bordeaux (7.38)
Les Girondins potted a hearty eleven goals through their first three matches– all wins. But most impressive might have been their gutsy, and apparently thrilling, 0-0 in front of 55,000+ at Marseille last weekend. The Champions remain in first place on goal differential going into the international break, as PSG and Lyon used last weekend to tighten up the race.

9 – Hamburger SV (7.75)
If you’re from Hamburg, are you a Hamburger? Maybe so, I’ll have to investigate. Either way, there are no turkeys in this club, which sit atop the Bundesliga at this early date on the strength of three consecutive wins– each of which saw The Red Shorts score at least three times.

10 – Liverpool (9.38)
Rounding out our list, Rafa’s oddball Reds. Their early season resume speaks for itself. An uneven, to be kind, performance at WHL saw Liverpool lose 1-2… A whooping of a pretty good Stoke side back home the next weekend… then an embarrassing 1-3 loss to the Villans on the same field… only to followed by last weekend’s thrilling 3-2 comeback at the Reebok. What next for Liverpool? F**k if I know.

Just missing out: Manchester City, Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, FK Rubin Kazan (half sandwich, half gutless but brilliant movie director), AZ Alkmaar (after a fabulously unglued performance against FC Twente), and Bayer Leverkusen.