Between winter breaks and some changes within this team, the World Club Top Ten needed a revamp. Gone are the days of the collaborative ranking. I’m taking over, for better or worse, as I fully expect my fellow World Soccer Reader scribes to hold me accountable for my … “decisions.”

This week, I expect a lot of scrutiny, with all of the best clubs in Europe picking up recent pocks, while a number of strong (some, undefeated) teams remain on the outskirts of the ranking.

But rather than continue talking about the list, why don’t we get to it, let you judge, starting with those teams that did not make the cut:

Honorable Mentions: Benfica (Portugal), Braga (Portugal), Milan (Italy), PSV (Netherlands), Rubin Kazan (Russia), Valencia (Spain)

OK – get your torches out:

#10 – AS Roma (2nd place, Italian Serie A)
A 3-2 loss mid-week to Panathinaikos in Europa League keeps Claudio Ranieri’s side from their previous heights( with Europe’s best), but consider the bigger picture. Thursday’s result – still a good one, within the scope of a two-legged tie – was the Giallorossi’s first loss since October, at which time they hovered around the middle of the Serie A. They now sit second in league, the only team poised to make a run at Internazionale.

Strong play from Roma’s two pivots – Daniele de Rossi and Davide Pizzaro – have buttressed great performances from left back John Arne Riise and midfielder Matteo Brighi. Franceso Totti’s continued struggles to stay on the pitch have been augmented by an early return from Mirko Vucinic and the loan acquisition of Luca Toni. At the back, the acquisition of Nicolás Burdisso (on loan from Inter) continues to be one of the season’s critical moves, while the early questions surround goalkeeper Júlio Sérgio have waned.

I am not the first person to point this out: credit to Claudio Ranieri. Some felt his sacked by Juventus at the end of last season was unfair. Most of those pundits have rightfully pointed out that Juve might be clear of their current troubles had they kept Ranieri, but even moving back to Rome (where Ranieri was groomed as a player and started his on-pitch career), the former Chelsea boss had to fill the large shoes of Luciano Spalletti.

Spalletti’s best finish for the Giallorossi: second place, where Roma now sits.

#9 – Bayer Leverkusen (1st place, German Bundesliga)
Bayer Leverkusen has been atop their league all season, having yet to lose in the Bundesliga, though they are on the verge of being usurped by the league’s other team in our top ten.

It’s an ironic development considering first place teams that are improving rarely are caught from behind, and Leverkusen continues to show improvement. Whereas the beginning of the season saw a number of grind-it-out results, results that engendered the perception that their undefeated record had a large luck component.

Out of the winter break, Leverkusen has found player beyond league goal scoring leader Stefan Keißling who can score goals. Eren Derdiyok is first year in Germany continues to be a success, with the former FC Basel striker up to nine goals while providing a physical presence in the middle that allows Bayer to take advantage of Keißling’s versatility. München loanee Toni Kroos has eight goals and provides the excellent set-piece service that allowed Bayer to continue to grind-out results when needed.

But that mentality has been less necessarily after the break. Since the Bundesliga re-started, Leverkusen has scored 13 goals in five matches, winning four while drawing one.

#8 – Girondins de Bordeaux (1st place, France)
If this list had been published last week (as I had originally planned to do), Bordeaux might have been out, having accumulated successive losses to Stade Rennes and Monaco. Since, the Ligue 1 leaders have posted an impressive 3-1 win over Saint-Etienne and made the Coupe de la Ligue final through a 4-1 win over Lorient.

For a team that has won ten matches by 1-0 scores, Bordeaux’s new-found ability to score multiple goals and post impressive wins portends well for their Champions League aspirations. Perhaps because Bayern Munich is considered a European super club and almost as powerful as teams in England, Italy and Spain, many who harbor hopes for a Cinderella in Champions League have turned to Bordeaux. Bordeaux’s sharpening of their sword should encourage those followers.

Through the long lull of unconvincing former, Laurent Blanc had been unable to get players to step-up around Yoann Gourcuff, who has been inconsistent this season. The defending has been strong, Cedric Carrasso has been steady in goal, and players like Jaroslav Plasil have enabled Bordeaux to maintain their perch atop Ligue 1 despite their form.

Now, some of the other Girondins are elevating their game.

Wendel has four goals in the last two matches, and his service on set pieces has partially contributed to Marouane Chamakh’s three goals in the same span.

Bordeaux is off this weekend, their match with Auxerre rescheduled to allow them to prepare for their Champions League match with Olympiakos.

#7 – Flamengo (1st place, 2009 Brasileirão Serie A)
We are entering the seventh or eighth month when Fla has been the best team in South America.

Shortly after Estudiantes won last year’s Copa Libertadores, Adriano settled in with Flamengo and, along with Dejan Petkovic, led Flamengo up the Serie A, eventually displacing São Paulo during their run to a fourth straight title at Brazil’s top level.

Now Flamengo has added former CSKA star Vagner Love, and though Love flamed out last season at Palmeiras, he has formed a dynamic partnership with Adriano. Play to the right of the former Inter star, Love has been able to take advantage of Adriano’s physical dominance, playing off him to score goals after Adriano wins targeted long balls. Love has six goals in four matches in the Carioca.

With Kleberson in a midfield featuring an improving Fernando and a defense featuring Juan and goalkeeper Bruno, Flamengo looks poised to continue their South American dominance through Libertadores.

#6 – Real Madrid (2nd place, Spain’s Primera Division)
Yes, they lost a Lyon. Knock them off the list? Hardly.

While they were ugly in their 1-0 loss on the road, Real Madrid was playing on of Europe’s most talented teams. Ultimately, a 1-0, first leg, away loss is not a terrible result in the context of a Champions League, knock-out stage tie.

Put that match in the context of their domestic campaign, where they are only two points back of Barcelona, and sixth on this list could be argued as low. Real’s point-ratio is second-best amongst Europe’s big leagues, trailing only the La Liga leaders.

Real Madrid has lost only three times in Spain, a league with the strongest set of 8-10 teams in Europe. There are plenty of chances to lose matches in the Primera, a Real Madrid’s only been caught three times.

They’ve allowed only 15 goals in 22 matches while scoring 53, and they have won four on the trot.

Just because they are not as good as they want to be does not mean they are not good relative to the world.

#5 – Chelsea (1st place, English Premier League)
They won’t be this low for long, but coming off a loss to Everton that decreased their lead atop the Premiership to one point, Chelsea looks more vulnerable than they have all season.

Part of that vulnerability comes from injury. Ashley Cole is out long-term, and the Blues have yet to get Michael Essien and José Bosingwa back into the lineup.

Without the rock at the bottom of his midfield diamond and without the two players that give his narrow, preferred formation its width, Carlo Ancellotti is playing more 4-3-3, giving Florent Malouda a larger, wider role.

Whether these forced changed has led to Chelsea’s vulnerability will be known when Essien and Bosingwa return, but with a mid-week match-up with Internazionale looming in Champions League, Chelsea’s on soft ground domestically and abroad.

#4 – Bayern Munich (2nd place, German Bundesliga)
A relative stumble mid-week against Fiorentina keeps Bayern from threatening the top three, but although many have focused on the Tom Henning Orevbo of Wendesday’s second half, Bayern did not play that poorly. Fiorentina raised their game, played well, and Bayern never seemed able to get the final touches that would create good chances on Sebestien Frey.

These type of matches happen, particularly against sides that play with the organization Fiorentina showed on Wednesday. While Munchen may not be thrilled going to Florence up only one, having given up an away goal, their December performance in Turin (4-1 win over Juventus) shows the short trip across the border will not derail them.

In league, Bayern continues rolling, having not lost since August. They have won nine in a row and have scored at least two goals in each match.

Arjen Robben is playing like on of Europe’s best players. Van Gaal has figured out how and where to use his forward depth. Daniel Van Buyten and Holder Badstuber have solidified a back line showing no effects of having lost Lucio. Franck Ribery is returning to health.

For a while, Bayern Munchen has had the talent to compete with any team in Europe. On current form, they are amongst the Champions League favorites.

#3 – Manchester United (2nd place, English Premier League)
Questions abound about Manchester United’s back line, as the first half against Milan showed the center of their line porous. They need should be desperate to get Nemanja Vidic back (and find a solution at right back), yet Alex Ferguson and United seem in control.

Such is the luxury of having Wayne Rooney.

Is the United forward Europe’s best player? The discussions are starting, a fair discussion based on Rooney’s goal haul.

If he is not Europe’s best player, he may still be its most valuable, as it’s unclear where Manchester United would find goals without him.

That’s no to say United is without good players. Paul Scholes is experiencing the same, late-career resurrection we saw Ryan Gigga undertake last season. Patrice Evra is currently the world’s best left back. The midfield triad to Scholes, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher can manage a match at both ends of the pitch better than any corresponding group in Europe. The Nani/Antonio Valencia combination on the right flank gives Ferguson the versatility to tailor his approach, while Park Ji-Sung’s understated presence in big matches is critical to the performances of the midfield, Rooney, and Evra.

United looks poised for a fourth straight Premiership and a fourth straight run in Champions League, where they have made the semifinals in each of the three preceding tournaments. But United still has work to do. While it’s not difficult to imagine them addressing their deficiencies, it’s impossible to see their current form continuing with those deficiencies, given the tasks ahead.

#2 – Internazionale Milano (1st place, Italian Serie A)
The deepest team in Europe, they go two deep at every position of the 4-4-2 José Mourinho has employed. Some of their key summer signings – Samuel Eto’o and Thiago Motta, for example – do not appear to be first team choices anymore, augmenting the options Mourinho has coming off his bench.

Those players have been passed-over for other signings. Wesley Sneijder has been the club’s key player, slipping into the top of their midfield diamond and giving them the creative presence they sorely lacked. The fortunate acquisition of Goran Pandev – released by the Lega Calcio from his Lazio deal – provides a skilled compliment to Diego Milito, the man upon whom, going forward, Inter will rely for goals.

That depth plus their dominance of the Italian league makes Inter a deserved number two on this list. That they have put seven points between them and Roma – a Roma-side that has played nearly as well as any contender in Europe – is remarkable.

For a while, they are going to be able to cruise in league, concentrate on Champions League, and wait to see if Roma can keep-up. Even if Roma is able to do so, Inter’s ability to start two XI’s that, by themselves, would be amongst Europe’s best fifteen clubs, means Inter cane fight for league, Coppa, and Europe.

#1 – FC Barcelona (1st place, Spain’s Primera Division)
Many look at Sunday’s loss at the Vincente Calderon as a sign of weakness. That’s possible, especially in light of all of Barça’s injuries.

However, a one goal loss to an Atlético Madrid side that has transcended their early season struggles is not a terrible result. Atlético has played well enough to escape a relegation battle, move into contention for a European place, and comfortably make it to the final of the Copa del Rey. A depleted Barcelona losing by one is almost an accomplishment (if the word accomplishment can ever be associated with getting no points).

Barcelona gets Gerard Pique and Rafa Marquez back from suspension, but the ability to get the rest of their team healthy will dictate whether they can hold this top spot. Dani Alves is out. Xavi Hernandez is now out. Seydou Keita looks to be crocked for a month. Eric Abidal is still a week away from a return. The only good news surrounds Yaya Touré, who has returned to training.

This weekend Barcelona faces Racing Santander, and in mid-week Champions League action they get Stuttgart. If there was ever a time the Blaugrana would want to deal with injuries, this might be it, as they will be strong favorites in each match despite their fitness concerns.

Over the last year, Brian has been instrumental in bring his readers the story of the North American Soccer League’s rebirth – bot the Team Owners Association of former USL-1 teams broke away from United Soccer Leagues and formed a new, “reborn” league.

In this final edition of the interview, Brian and I look into the future of soccer coverage in the United States and ask about how citizen journalism fits where major media outlets are facing increasing financial constraints.

Over the last year, Brian has led the coverage of the USL-1’s break-up, with many of the clubs who competed in the 2008-09 season’s second division breaking-off to form the new version of the North American Soccer League.

Through his exemplary work, Brian has become one example of the potential of citizen journalism. Where mainstream sports media is still developing its means of fully covering soccer, citizen journalism plays a necessary role in our soccer culture, picking up the stories which, though the stories would be swallowed up were they occurring in American football or basketball, could fall through the cracks if not for coverage from “bloggers.”

In this interview, we discuss the implications of this type of coverage, describing our unique soccer landscape where information flow is dependent on people who are decidedly outside the traditional media.

Brian and Kartik Krishnaiyer worked the story for over a year, serving as the chief outlets for reporting news of the Team Owners Association’s desire to league United Soccer Leagues and form what would become the new North American Soccer League. Along the way, they encountered a troubling paradox in U.S. soccer media: The current landscape needs citizen journalists to fill the voids left by a mainstream sports media that is still warming to soccer, yet those attempting to fill that void still face a credibility gap.

“Blogger” is still a pejorative.

I started covering Brian and Kartik’s reporting over six months ago, and it quickly became apparent to me that they were as much as part of the story as the leagues themselves. Some would disagree with that, seeing the storytellers independent of the story. But in Brian Quarstad telling the story as opposed to authors at ESPN, Yahoo, Goal, Sports Illustrated – or even bloggers like Ives Galarcep – we saw the ability of citizen journalism to do the same work that we’re traditionally seen from better-backed, professional entities.

It is a testament to Brian and Kartik that they continues being the leads for this story even when it transcended into the main stream. Reportedly, when the USSF announced their 2010 division two solution, there were three times as many people on the conference call as had dialed in for the announcement of Bob Bradley as coach of the national team.

How was Brian able to cover this story? He’s one man in Minnesota, but this was a story that stretched from Vancouver to Puerto Rico, Montreal to Brazil (thanks to Traffic Sports’ involvement). What did he go through to do so? How was his work received? What were the obstacles?

Most importantly, what does his role in the story tell us about the place of citizen journalism in our soccer media landscape?

As Brian mentions in the interview, the United States has more soccer blogs than any nation in the world, and for better or worse, they have become part of the core of soccer coverage in the U.S.

To talk about the NASL/USL story, his role in it, and how the story reflects our soccer culture, I welcome Brain Quarstad back to Inside the Six.

This will be a three part interview. It was originally conducted on Sunday, with its parts distributed over the next three days.

Ray Curren and I have a respectful, ongoing discussion.

Ray is a big fan of the English Premier League. He writes about it for Set Piece Analysts and listens to the site’s podcast, on which I am a regular.

Last week, I got an email from him in which he mentioned that I was more down on the English league than he. As is often the case with Ray, he’s right.

I think the English Premier League has taken a noticeable step back this season. The teams at the top are noticeably weaker, to the point that I don’t think any of them would have finished in the top three in 2008-09. The teams are the bottom seem thin, weak, and resigned to a style that is more likely to grind out a season where they barely survive rather than actually try and win matches.

In between, there are a number of teams – exemplified by Birmingham and Stoke – who seem to be overachieving. My feeling: they are the beneficiaries of a weakened league, clubs who would be near relegation just a few years ago.

Stacked against clubs in the corresponding position of the Spanish Primera’s table, the English teams do not compare well, though this should not be construed as a slight on the English top division. If anything, it is confirmation of a natural cycle which has existed in European football for decades. Whether the leading league is Dutch, German, Spanish, English or Italian, the reign of that league will eventually be ended by another league that catches-up.

England’s recession is just part of that cycle. Three years from now, we’ll be having this same conversation about Spain.

For now, that conversation will have to happen between myself and Ray, who talks England before providing his observations on Major League Soccer; specifically, the phenomenon of MLS losing domestic talent (like Michael Parkhurst) to second-level European leagues. Ray talks about some of the frustrations for fans who see the MLS teams they support lose their best domestic talents to European clubs willing to pay two-to-four times more for their services.

In the long run, it is difficult to argue this is a good thing. Players like Michael Parkhurst or the recently returned Troy Perkins profile as the type of player a strong domestic league should be able to keep. But MLS is in a unique place right now. It’s right in the middle of an expansion era, an era that may require some belt-tightening. The franchise fees MLS gets for those expansion teams might say otherwise, but let’s accept the frugality as a premise.

Once the expansion era is through MLS should be able to pay to keep the Parkhursts of the world. Whether it will is something Ray and I discuss.

It’s all on the Friday edition of Inside the Six.

Once Major League Soccer gets beyond its current labor problems, the league faces a series of marketing challenges that are currently holding back some of its oldest franchises.  Red Bull New York, for example, continues to struggle penetrating a fractured New York market.

To talk about that and the other challenges facing Red Bull New York and MLS, Mark Fishkin is on the show.  He is a media industry veteran and an avid Red Bull-supporter, and with Red Bull Arena poised to open in March of this year, New York has a chance to turn the corner.

Mark and I talk about that, the labor problems, the successes of Seattle and Toronto, and growing the sport in the United States.

Then, I welcome Ray Curren to the show. Ray is a contributor to Set Piece Analysts and joined me on Sunday to talk about a trio of issues:  Cup of Nations, English football, and United States talent leaving Major League Soccer.

His place within United States’s soccer culture has made him a lightning rod for praise and criticism, but no matter the side of the divide on which you fall (or if you fall through the middle), Landon Donovan’s loan to Everton FC in England represents a landmark moment in United States soccer history.

Whether you feel the moment is critical or will be a turning point is another matter, but Donovan’s domestic success and player for the national team has always been juxtaposed against European club failures. Now in the prime of his career and having just signed a lucrative contract with Major League Soccer, Donovan has rolled the dice on another European sojourn knowing that he will give one side of the debate a potentially lethal arrow for their quiver.

To talk about the sojourn’s first step, I welcomes World Soccer Reader’s Los Angeles Galaxy correspondent, Jared Dubois. Jared is a self-professed Galaxy fan who also had been able to fall within that divide between the debate’s two sides. In turn, Jared had a measured view of Donovan’s Everton debut. I talk to him about that as well as the English reaction, which was overwhelmingly position.

Donovan’s first match has to be looked upon as a building block. I don’t agree with the English critics that were glowing in the praise. I thought he had a good, possibly merely average match. He did some very good things moving the ball, particularly switching play in a way you don’t often see from the Toffees. But he also lacked the energy you need to have in the Premier League, a deficiency particularly noticable in defense, where he would at times be seen walking while players like Marouane Fellaini and Leon Osman stayed poised on their toes.

On Arsenal’s first goal the criticism of Donovan should not be that he did not clear a ball that was difficult to handle; rather, in the moment the ball was leaving the Everton area, his first instinct was to let-up. You can see him start to straighten-up before realizing the play was not resolved, costing him valuable time he could have used to close-down Denilson.

With the bad defensively and the good in attack, the match was a mixed-bag, but all the issues Donovan had could be chalked up to unfamiliarity. Going forward, his instincts will develop as he becomes more acclimated to the English game.

As we discuss on this edition of Inside the Six, Saturday was a great building block for Landon Donovan’s next ten weeks.

It’s been almost exactly one month since we last released an episode of Inside the Six. Call it a holiday or call it a point of personal privilege. Regardless, call it over.

Inside the Six is back, with its first show of the week, and from here forward, we are officially daily.

To help start our rebirth, Kevin McCauley makes his second appearance on the show. Kevin is an American writer and broadcaster best known for the All Things Footy podcast. After this month, he’s going to be best known for the great work he and are are going to do on the Set Piece Analysts’ African Cup of Nations podcast – a daily update on Africa’s continental championship.

That’s the second part of the show, a segment that we jointly distributed with Set Piece Analysts today.

Before then, Kevin and I talk about the weekend action in the three big European leagues.

We start in Italy, where first place Internazionale needed two goals in the last five minutes (from Wesley Sneijder and Walter Samuel) to beat Siena. If that sentence doesn’t seem weird to you, it may be because you’re missing this information: Siena came into the weekend in last place, and played at the team leading the table, yet was up 3-2 late in the match. Two dead ball goals from Sneijder helped Inter avoid embarrassment.

Elsewhere in Italy, Milan trounced Juventus 3-0, continuing to make their case for being the best team, at the moment, in the league. Going in the opposite direction, the Old Lady showed that need to work more about staying in a Champions League spot than challenging for the scudetto.

In England, most matches were cancelled because of weather, though both Manchester United and Arsenal played. Neither took advantage of their chances to gain on first place Chelsea. Manchester United drew at Brimingham City while Arsenal drew at the Emirates against Everton (who debuted some American – have you heard about this?).

In Spain, Barcelona trounced Tenerife while Real Madrid got a strong win over Mallorca.

We talk about all that and more on this, the weekend wrap-up edition of Inside the Six.

On this, the Thursday edition of ITS, we re-welcome WSR’s La Liga correspondent Mark Goodman for a breakdown of the three surviving Champions League sides from Spain. Looking at Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Sevilla, Mark and I assess the current form of the clubs, where their weaknesses lie, and the likelihood of those deficiencies being addressed as we move forward.

To talk about the closing of the Brazilian Serie A and the impending closing of the “opening” in Argentina, I welcome back Goal.com’s Tim Sturtridge, who joins us from Buenos Aireas, Argentina. Tim talks to us about Flamengo’s title in Brazil, the battle between Banfield and Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina, LDU Quito’s second continental trophy in as many seasons, as well as the World Club Cup, which starts today. Along the way, we touch upon match-fixing rumors in Brazil, the struggles of Boca and River in Argentina, the secret of Ecuador’s altitude and athleticism, as well as the significant of Juan Róman.