Thursday, 25 February 2010

A Bridge Too Far


I think it was my good friend Swiss Tony who once told me "playing football is like making love to a beautiful woman"

I'll be honest I've no idea what he was talking about, but as a car salesman what did he know about playing football. But in Tony's comparison I guess the higher the level of football the more beautiful the woman- making the MJSL akin to Susan Boyle

There is obviously beauty in football- in the playing style of Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, in the winning of trophies (not like Wenger's Arsenal), in overcoming injury and adversity and in the passion of the fans.

There is of course beauty in women as well, just ask John Terry he seems to find it in lots of them. And Terry's deeds with the ex of his one time team mate, Wayne Bridge, have led Bridge to quit the England team. Firstly I'm starting to think Terry should sleep with other wives of English players that we don't want playing for our national side- no names mentioned.

Now on to the real issue- Bridge! So he has turned his back on the England side at the moment when the England side actually need him. Not to be harsh to him but at no other point has Wayne really been needed by England- there has always been Ashley Cole. But Cole is injured, and though the Egypt game is not important it is what lies beyond that which matters. Cole may still be unavailable come the World Cup. Enter Wayne Bridge surely? Well not now!

I personally am not a fan of Bridge, it was never a shock to me that he was second choice at Chelsea and England to Cole, he's not as good. In fact the only thing that has shocked me is that he has always been second choice to Cole for the three lions, especially in recent times with Stephen Warnock and Leighton Baines' stock rising.

And now we turn to Capello and wondering who will take Bridge's and possible Cole's place come June 12th against U.S.A. There is Warnock and Baines, two of the player's who even before this recent news would have been in the Italian's thoughts. Fabio could also turn to centre back come left back Joleon Lescott. Undoubtedly Lescott has more experience for England than the other two but he has never looked truly comfortable in an England shirt and he has been average at best for City this season whilst the other two have shone.

One other option would be to change the position of a player who had surely already booked his place to the World Cup and it could come in the form of either James Milner or Gareth Barry. Should everyone in the midfield be fit Milner would probably start this summer's tournament on the bench, despite his performances over shadowing those of Steven Gerrard this season, so with his versatility he could play at left back but that would mean restricting his impact as a great player to bring off the bench. Dropping Barry back would open a whole new question of who might fill in at Barry's position of the holding glue to England's attacking midfield. Once upon-a-time there was a defensive English midfielder who could have done such a job, his name was Owen Hargreaves- no really it's not a fairy tale!

For me, in a World Cup, you can't chop and change a player's position just 4 month before the biggest tournament in these players lives. One of Warnock or Baines should be the left back in the squad, the other though may not make it at all. With Milner, Barry and possibly Lescott in the squad there may not be the need for a second left back in the squad.

I guess if playing football is like making love to a beautiful woman then the World Cup would be Cheryl Cole. So that's two England left backs who won't be making love to Cheryl Cole then!

Sunday, 21 February 2010

No I in Team


It doesn't rain, it pours (or snows in the case of the MJSL- third time this season we've had a game cancelled because it's snowed Saturday night). It's bad enough that you have a moronic owner but then fortunes on the pitch couldn't be worse. Bad results, bad luck and having to sell your best players for relatively cheap prices.

When once it seemed the only way was up now the only way is down and pretty damned fast, you may even be lucky to still be around come the end of the season. Oh how I feel for Portsmouth. Of course you probably knew I was talking about the 2008 FA Cup winners, I guess I could have been talking about Crystal Palace...

... Apart from the fact I feel sorry for Avram Grant, the same can't be said of Palace's manager.

Neil Warnock is the head of the whinge brigade of football managers. Don't get me wrong every football manager is allowed a whinge now and again but when it happens so often it gets annoying. And I should know the manager of my beloved Manchester United is one of the kings of it. This season Sir Alex's moaning has been unbearable, mainly because it's always about the same thing- the amount of added time in matches. Arsene Wenger is another moaner who frustrates, mainly because every week something other than his teams poor performance is at fault for dropped points or cup losses- Wednesday's comedy of errors against Porto for instance. Rafa Benitez is now hilarious, not because he moans, but because he doesn't, a simple "the ref was excellent" seems to do for the Spaniard.

Now to Warnock, a man who's past as the man who nearly put Bury- a club close to my heart and home- into administration a few years back, is clearly not my favourite manager at the best of time but his moaning pushes me over the edge. The former Sheffield United manager consistently blames officials if anything goes wrong and is so far over the top it's ridiculous, last weeks FA Cup match against Aston Villa was a major case in point. I don't argue that the officials got it wrong, clearly a corner was wrongly given but giving a corner wrongly is hardly the worst decision in any game. Instead of perhaps making a passing comment and accepting a draw with one of the Premier League's top sides as a decent result Warnock instead complained, but it wasn't a normal complaint, no Warnock suggested the official should be suspended- for giving a goal kick as a corner, utter ridiculous!

If this was not bad enough Warnock decided on Thursday, after Mick Mcarthy and Wolves had been wrongly, in my opinion, been charged for changing 10 players for their trip to Old Trafford, that this matter needed his opinion. Warnock is not a manager of a Premier League club, he hasn't been since May 2007. Warnock is not a manager of Wolves, nor has he ever been. The matter had nothing to do with the Palace manager or his current club. Warnock instead decided that this matter reflected 2007 when both Liverpool and Manchester United played weakened sides against Fulham and West Ham and thus Sheffield United were relegated. What he misses out is the fact that the reason Sheffield United went down, contrary to the courts blaming purely Carlos Tevez, was that Sheffield United weren't good enough to stay down. Furthermore he even asked the question "Were Liverpool or United docked points?", well no but neither were Wolves.

Above all the moaning and nearly running Bury into the ground my main problem with the former Oldham manager is his clear selfishness. Everything Warnock says is to do with him. He does not feel for the club, or the fans he only cares what impact it has on him. Sheffield United went down and it meant he was no longer a Premier League manager. Palace drew with Villa and so it meant he was not in the next round of the FA cup- never mind the fact a replay was most important for Palace.

Selfishness is what kills a club. In this team game there is no room for a "me" attitude in any team, never mind one that is in financial danger. And this is where Pompey come back into play.

Portsmouth have been destroyed by several acts of selfishness. From chairman to former players. Perhaps one of the worst cases is Sol Campbell. Sol enjoyed a good period at Portsmouth, moving for free from Arsenal, he was amongst the clubs top earners and lifted the FA cup as captain. Now, back at Arsenal, Sol had decided that this is the time to claim the image rights he is owed. An argument for Sol is that he's just claiming what is rightfully his from the contract he had with the South Coast club. But has he not made enough money in his career that he can't avoid putting yet another nail in the Portsmouth coffin?

Look beyond the moaning, look beyond the character's involved and see just what is left. The sad truth that two football teams, with fans like you and I, are on the verge of extinction and that is truly sad!

Thursday, 18 February 2010

Oh for some excitement!


I knew one day Arsene Wenger would say something that not only didn't annoy me but I also agreed with. Of course it wasn't his comments after Arsenal's game against Porto. I mean that was hilarious- the incident and Wenger's comments after.

Wenger's undying refusal to ever blame his players is getting beyond ridiculous now. How he could possibly blame the referee for Arsenal losing last night was too far. The ref made an error in not awarding a penalty when Tomas Rosicky went down in the box, but then the commentators on both ITV and BBC Radio 5 live thought the midfielder had gone down easily, it wasn't till they saw the replay that they reckoned ref and linesman had got it wrong and neither these men had the fortune of seeing the replay. Other than that the man in yellow did nothing wrong when it came to the big decisions despite Wenger's thoughts.

Anyway enough of all that, Wenger complaining and me not agreeing is hardly worthy of blogging about, after all I'd end up doing it every week if that were the case. Now to what me and Arsene agree on- and to add to the madness so does Rafa.

I'm sure most of us would claim that the English Premier League is the best domestic competition in the world, but I'm also sure we'd like some changes perhaps. I for one would like more English players- I have nothing against the foreign players I just wish there was more talented Englishmen to mean we didn't always have to go abroad. I'd also like video refs, for decisions on goals and penalties, I'm not asking that the refs ask for someone to review which way a throw in should go but can't we eradicate mistakes like the ones which ruled out recent winners for Bolton and Stoke by simply asking a man in a booth "can I award a goal?" waiting 30 seconds to a minute and then awarding it.

Two things that aren't on the top of my list, or anywhere near, are the need for more excitement or the need for more money in the Premier League. Richard Scudamore seems to disagree with me.

I am of course referring to Mr Scudamore's new idea that there should be an end of season playoff between the teams finishing forth, fifth, sixth and seventh in the Premier League to decide who will qualify for the Champions League. This idea of course comes one season on from "Gam£ 39", as it came to be known.

Hold on! One of the reasons for the play offs is so the season is more exciting?!? I've missed something here. Is the Premier League somehow not exciting enough?

We have a very even title race, a very even race for forth and a very even relegation battle- not just even but bloody exciting. I would take a quick look at the table and suggest only Birmingham, Everton and Fulham can be all but sure they won't get relegated and be looking at too much of a deficit to get into the top 7 but I'm sure fans of these clubs would argue with my assumption- and rightly so. This all means, that with 3 months and 12 or so games to go, the Premiership is at it's most exciting in years, and it looks like the next few years will only shorten the gap between the 'big four' and those jostling for position behind them.

And what of those jostling for position? What if one did earn 4th spot? Would they be happy to then have to go through play-offs to re-earn what they already have? I think not, especially as the member of the 'big four' who got knocked away from 4th spot would almost certainly be in the top 7 and who would bet on them not winning those play-offs- not me!

The proposal would also be hugely detrimental to any future success in international competitions that England may be aiming for. Take this season for example- heading to a World Cup the teams in the play-off would be Liverpool, Manchester City, Spurs and Villa. So in essence players such as Gerrard, Barry, Bridge, Lescott, Wright-Phillips, Adam Johnson, Defoe, Crouch, Lennon, Huddelstone, Dawson, King, Warnock, Milner, Young, Agbonlahor, Heskey would all be playing in highly competitive matches for a further 2 weeks after the F.A Cup final, possibly even Champions League final. Fair enough I've over exaggerated the amount of players but those listed all have at least an outside chance of making the plane to South Africa.

Quite frankly other than lining the pockets of men like Scudamore and the other 'suits' in charge of our beautiful game there is simply no reason to add play-offs to the Premier League. Rafa himself suggested that if we do this why not a play-off for the last relagated team as well.

You could argue of course that Wenger and Rafa (and potentially me as a United supporter) have most to lose from the introduction of these play-offs but the truth is that the managers who usually complain the most about nothing finally have something to complain about!

Tuesday, 9 February 2010

Keeping, the Engand Job


It's been a while, for me anyway, since I mentioned that big tournament just 4 months away. You know the one in South Africa that England are going to win. Stop the giggling. Rio Ferdinand is going to get to lift the World Cup come July of that I'm sure.

And yes it will now be Rio's face we remember lifting the trophy in years to come and not the now ex captain John Terry. Of course on reading the title of this post you'd probably be thinking the comma is a typo and I'm about to embark on my opinion on Terrygate/Bridgegate. As it happens I would have kept JT on but I understand why Don Fabio didn't and fully back both his decision and how he delivered it in their short 12 minute meeting.

Meanwhile on the England front Wayne Rooney continues to show why most people increasingly believe that if he were to get injured between now and June England's hopes would evaporate. Also those player's who have at different times been definite starters on the right wing, Mr Lennon and Walcott, continue to fade from thoughts due to injury and form whilst their potential replacement, Mr Milner, continues to improve his rising reputation.

Along with Rooney there is one other aspect of the side that many believe must be right for Rio's side to bring back the trophy and end 44 trophyless years for the country. It is of course the question of who, as the song says, is "England's number 1, England's England's number 1"?

It is a question that has long been asked and long been unanswered, certainly since Paul Robinson's mistake in Croatia was followed up by very quickly by Scott Carson's at Wembley in the rain.

So those two players seem like a good place to start. After Robinson missed Gary Neville's back pass it looked like the then Spurs keeper would never recover to such a time where he might be considered as England's man between the posts again. Errors started coming into his game at club level and he looked a calamitous as a James. Shipped off to Blackburn though Robinson has set about rebuilding his career in the last 19 months and this season has put in a number of dazzling displays hardly helped by his defence. Carson on the other hand is no where near in the picture. Now a Championship quality goalkeeper playing in the Championship. It is proof that of all of Steve McLaren's mistakes as England manager the one to replace Robinson with Carson on that rainy night in London was perhaps the biggest.

Fast forward to the end of 2009 and the man most recently in possession of the cover ted gloves has been Ben Foster. It's an almost laughable thought that the man who started against Brazil in November will be starting against U.S.A in June. Foster has fallen so far off the radar with club side, Manchester United, that during Edwin van der Sar's recent absence it was not Foster but Tomasz Kuszczak who took the Dutchman's place. Foster is a talented goalkeeper, to that there has never been much doubt, but he is no longer a youngster and major questions remain over the mental side of his game. And without games for United there is unlikely to be any for England.

Before Foster it was Robert Green who had the gloves, not long ago he worse a pair with the words "England's number 6" stitched into them. But as recently as the qualifier against Ukraine Green has been England's number one. I personally am not a big fan, and he still looks highly error prone for West Ham but he must currently be in the top 3. It wasn't though till Chris Kirkland was injured for friendly against France in 2008 that Green came into Capello's thinking. For me the man he replaced is the most talented English keeper around- but his constant injuries all but count him out.

There is two more candidates at different ends of the scale. One an up and coming Englishman in the form of his life. The other an ageing keeper who is only just playing Premier League football because the inform keeper at the club has been sold to clear the team's debt. Joe Hart, on loan at Birmingham, has been nothing short of sensational at times this season. Birmingham have been the surprise package of this season and it is in no small part down to Hart's reactions, athleticism and all round game that shows maturity way beyond his years. Down in the south coast David James has been in and out of injuries for big parts of the season and is only now playing for Portsmouth, a side as calamitous as James' own nickname and reputation. I had the misfortune to watch the recent Manchester City vs Portsmouth match. It was a drab match in which most of the excitement came from James, on several occasions, being unable to hold on to the most simple of balls- one of which went for the corner which led to City's second goal.

At this time I would personally take Robinson, Hart and Green to the World Cup with the former two fighting for the number 1 spot.

One final thought though goes towards Brazil, serial winners of football's biggest tournament and specifically their recent wins in 1994 and 2002. The goalkeepers in those tournaments were Taffarel and Marcos respectively. Two goalkeepers who have never done too much in their careers and never been thought of as much more than average. Perhaps England don't quite have the sides these two had playing in front of them. Or perhaps all you need is a competent goalkeeper who won't cost your team the match and the tournament. Sorry David!

Thursday, 4 February 2010

Bit Drafty!


So apparently the transfer window shut on Monday. No bang, no crash, barely even a whimper- quite frankly if Robbie “everywhere I go is my favourite club” Keane hadn’t headed north to his favourite club, Celtic, then the window wouldn’t even had made any headlines.

Obviously Manchester City were chasing more headlines, with late transfers seeming to be their favourite way to do it- maybe second behind Garry Cook’s outbursts of moron like behaviour. Having captured the signing of Patrick Vieira earlier in the window the Citizens returned to Italy for another central midfielder. This time they wanted Ronald McDonald from Parma, what? That’s not his name? Ok so it must have been Old McDonald they wanted? No? Unfortunately McDonald Mariga couldn’t get his work permit and ended up at Jose’s Inter. Of course it wasn’t unfortunate he didn’t sign because of his talent but more because of his headline writing name.

Once that target had disappeared City decided to try and grab the headlines with a transfer more of note for the player rather than his name. Enter Adam Johnson, a reported £7 million acquisition from Middlesbrough. Johnson is a highly rated English left winger who, should City not do a Chelsea, one day be a successful part of an England side- yes an exciting left winger!

Looking for excitement beyond City and perhaps Robbie’s 2nd temporary transfer in the last 18 months there wasn’t much to write home about. Portsmouth’s numerous outgoings and few loan incomings and the story of where Victor Moses might end up kept us with something else to concentrate on but the rest was all drab.

Of course Sky Sports News and BBC’s live text tried to keep us occupied but the very fact that the former didn’t have their usual man on 4 phones even in the office suggested the last day of the window would be one we’d be happy to see the end of. God knows the last few weeks have been full of coaches, managers, players and even agents moaning about how the window needs to go. But are they right?

The window was created to make it fairer to the lesser clubs, basically the Uniteds of the world couldn’t buy your player in November just because he was in great form and they were due to play you. To me though it doesn’t seem to make too much difference, the player will just be sold in the summer anyway. And surely the window helps more players leave on a free when their contract runs out. Currently if a player doesn’t want to leave in January or the club don’t get a good enough offer then he just sits around to leave on a free in July. Without a window there would be longer to get a deal done or if a player is being stubborn you can just freeze him out for a few more games till he gets fed up and accepts to leave in March- you may get less for him but it’s more than nothing.

Steve Bruce today flagged up what is perhaps the most agreeable argument; it is only a matter of time until a player takes action against the transfer window as a restraint of trade- basically stopping a player working. He took Benjani as an example, had his loan move from City to Sunderland (yawn) not gone through then it “restricts his career, it restricts his movement”. As we know these laws are the kind of thing that stops a cap on the amount of foreign players allowed and the now infamous Bosman ruling.

It is clearly time to get rid of this window. By now it’s only real function is to give us some drama twice a year. It is failing to do that now!

Time to change that window for some open patio doors. Otherwise it might be time for the Benjani ruling.

Tuesday, 2 February 2010

Title down to two?


"And then there were two!"

Phil McNulty's words not mine.

Sunday's match wasn't your normal cagey affair between two of the big four, instead it was as open a game of football as you could wish to see. Well it was open in the way that Arsenal's defence opened up for the United attack, especially Messrs Rooney and Almeida da Cunha (or Nani to most of us).

This of course was not the first time that another member of the top four exposed Arsenal’s defence to looking like it had more holes in it than a Swiss cheese, oddly enough Philippe Senderos was already on loan at Everton. Back in November Chelsea exposed Arsene Wenger’s side in the same way, at least Wenger could be happy Thomas Vermaelen didn’t break his leg last week otherwise it would have been Rooney and Nani running at Sol Campbell, the match may have been even more unbearable for Gunners everywhere.

I for one had picked out Arsenal as a good chance for title success just a few weeks ago. United had just lost to Leeds and Chelsea had just lost their African players to their continental competition, Arsenal had a tough run of matches coming up against Aston Villa and United followed by Chelsea and Liverpool. “If they win those four I think they’ll win the league”, this time they were my words, I need to stop predicting stuff- “Marouane Fellaini must be one of the worst midfielders in the Premier League” just before the Everton vs. Man City match and “I can’t stand Park Ji-Sung he just doesn’t add anything to the attack” before Sunday’s match- are both amongst my latest observations before watching football.

Of course United seem to have picked up some form since losing to Leeds, Chelsea look excellent even before their African players arrive back in the Premiership and Wenger’s ‘new animal’s’ have looked like very tired sloths in their matches against Villa and United. That last comment may be slightly harsh, certainly against Villa they weren’t all that bad but certainly against United they showed that perhaps they hadn’t grown up as much as the Frenchman thought since last year’s Champions League exit to the same opponents. So are Arsenal out of the league already?

Clearly there is still plenty of time till the end of the season and they are only 5 points off Chelsea’s top spot, a gap which could be diminished at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. There is also the fact that last time Arsenal lost in the league, against Chelsea, they reacted by going 10 games without losing. Last but not least in Arsenal’s favour is the return of most of their previously missing players- Alex Song’s return from Angola is essential, as is Nicklas Bendtner’s return from injury to give Wenger an actual striker to pick up front instead of rotating the skillful but short midfielders who have beern occupying that area of the pitch.

There is though the other side. For one Arsenal’s best striking option, Robin van Persie, is still out and most likely till April, unless someone else can start scoring the goals by the time the Dutchman is back it may be too late for the title to head to the Emirates. Secondly is the question of the squad. We all know in this day and age it is not about the first 11 but about the whole squad, and Arsenal are definitely third in these stakes. Only a few weeks ago you would have argued Arsenal’s was stronger than United’s but take a look at the champion’s bench on Sunday and you’d find Valencia, Owen, Berbatov, Giggs and Gibson- there was no room for Anderson or Diouf and there is still Ferdinand and Vidic to return from suspension and injury respectively. Finanlly is Arsenal’s recent record in winning the Premier League- unlike their two rivals it is some time since they managed it. Last time they challenged was two seasons ago, Arsenal looked good in the league and travelled to Old Trafford in the FA Cup fifth round on February 16th 2008. They were outplayed in every deparment, losing 4-0 and being embaressed by a young skilfull Portugese winger named Nani. Arsenal never recovered mentaly from that hammering and United went on to win the league.

Football doesn’t always repeat itself but then again Robbie Keane has just gone on a temporary transfer to the team he supported as a boy!

Then there were two? Sunday may just have the answer!