Back of the net: Winter break but where’s the snow?

“Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat'' goes the yuletide rhyme. We could also add players in the UFL to that as the season takes a seven-week break.

That is a long time without competitive football. The reasons for this are many but none of them involve the snow and ice of a European winter.

There were supposed to be games yesterday but they were postponed to allow the national team more time to prepare for the Gulf Cup. The only football played now will be the UFL Cup and some President's Cup games. If you consider the UFL Cup has been used as almost a second string competition and some teams are out of the President's Cup then it is a long time without a meaningful game.

The final week of 2008 UFL action for the year proved to be an exciting one. Al Ain beat Al Wasl 2-0 despite being down to 10 men for the second half. Diaz the Brazilian came on as a sub and showed his former team what they were missing with a great header and a twice-taken penalty. I went to Al Ain for the game and they look a team full of confidence with great team spirit.

That was three defeats in a row for Al Wasl and guess what? That's right – the Croatian coach Juricic Strechko was sacked to be replaced by Emirati Khalifa Mubarak. Al Wasl's third coach of the season and a sure sign of a club in turmoil. Al Ahli will be disappointed to have been held away at Al Dhafra and now lose the top spot to Al Jazira who were 3-1 winners against current champions Al Shabab.

Foreign failings There was an interesting article in Gulf News this week saying a number of clubs are looking to offload failing foreign strikers. This shows the clubs hold foreign players responsible when things go wrong. The players that have not performed are strangely enough from teams that are not performing well.

If you blame the foreign strikers in a failing team it is just papering over the cracks. Everyone knows football is a team game so blaming one or two players for a team's under-performance is short-sighted. Scoring goals is the one thing the foreign players are expected to do as they have been brought into the team at huge expense but if they don't get the service and they have a poor defence behind them then they are doomed to failure.

So after the first half of the season I think it's no shock that the top three is made up of Al Ain, Al Ahli and Al Jazira. Two of the teams have spent big on foreign stars and one has the consistency of keeping a coach who won them the President's Cup.

Special mention must go to newly promoted Ajman who sit in fourth after a great first half to the season. Different ball game Under-performers of the season so far are Al Shabab.

The current champions languish in the table's lower reaches plus, of course, three coaches and counting. The most efficient part of that club is the recruitment department which has been overworked in the first three months of the season.

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(Our columnist Sparky talks to renowned Spanish football pundit Guillem Balague each week. And don't forget to check out all the latest football news and views from around Europe at www.guillembalague.com)