All is Said...

Now it is Time To Do

I hope it doesn't matter what football team you support, or if you even like football, but what happened on the 15th of April 1989 at Hillsborough, the home of Sheffield Wednesday, should shock you to the core.

That the truth about what happened on that day has finally come out, a massive 23 years after the event, should not lead one to care less but in fact to care more- now there is truth next there should be justice.

Last week, after the results of the inquest by the Hillsborough Independent Panel, I decided not to write a blog post; little else in football mattered that week and I didn't have enough insight or intelligence to add to the proper debate, with Liverpool due to play against rivals Manchester United I have decided to throw in my comments.

Sir Alex Ferguson has once again asked for United fans to respect the 96 who died as a result of that tragedy and their families after some idiotic fans chanted, with ambiguity, about Luis Suarez at the match at Old Trafford against Wigan. With Sunday being Liverpool's first home game since the findings emotion will be running high.

'SAF' has written to those fans attending on Sunday to remind them the rivalry with their Scouse neighbours is built on "a determination to come out on top – a wish to see us crowned the best against a team that held that honour for so long" rather than the hatred and vitriol that usually surrounds these matches. Football is no doubt all about passion and rivalry but it does not need to lead to idiocy, tribalism and heartlessness that has led to songs about Hillsborough, Hysel and Munich- none of these tragedies are footballing, they are all human and horrible and we should not laugh at those involved but empathise with them.


Any one who does now not believe the truth is a moron, anyone who does not respect the dead should not constitute a human being. I, for one, believe that Sunday will go off without a hitch and we'll just have a moving tribute and hopefully some fantastic football to talk about.

We have done the talking, now is time for the action.

Has Too Much Been Said?

I wrote in this blog on Tuesday about Joe Hart's performance and that of the defence in front of him. Furthermore I mentioned how Hart should pick his words wisely in regards to teams winning 3-2 from 2-1 down with 5 minutes to go, it was all very ironic.

However to concentrate on that one line would be too miss the point, Hart was actually incredulous with rage at losing and the performance of the team- he told us as much. Hart blamed City as a whole team for losing the match, whilst at no point blaming himself he never said he wasn't to blame. This, along with Hart making a mistake for the winning goal, led to Roberto Mancini to criticise his goalkeeper.

Mancini said in his press conference "Joe Hart should stay in goal and make saves. If anyone should criticise the team it should be me, not Joe Hart. I am the judge, not Joe Hart", which may have been okay as criticism but it is not as if Mancini did not agree with the England 'number 1' after also suggesting that the defence was too deep at the end of the game.

Since then both Vincent Kompany, the club captain, and Gareth Barry have come out in defence of Hart with Kompany further backing his 'keeper' by admitting he was at fault for the important goal. 

Hart was harsh but honest about the team and that included himself. It would surely be more worrying if both he and the rest of the players failed to see their own failings.

It's Never Enough

Some may argue that Joe Hart said too much. Some have even argued that, by not paying Real Madrid enough respect for their win, he didn't quite say enough.

On the other hand one man who was extremely happy with himself was Jose Mourinho, the Madrid manager, whose words after his teams loss last weekend inspired them to victory over City.

Of course Mourinho can't take full praise for the victory, after all it is the players who go out and play the football and score the goals...Actually scratch that, if any manager can ever take full credit for victory it would be the 'Special One'. Once upon a time the former Barcelona interpreter graced the Premier League as manager of Chelsea and wowed us with his arrogance, tactical brilliance and on camera personality and ever since leaving we have missed him. 
Mourinho's jump from the bench and slide across the turf as Ronaldo scored reminded us of his most famous moment, sliding down the sidelines at Old Trafford as his Porto side beat Manchester United, but more poignantly it reminded us that Jose is the master puppeteer who never wastes a word- that goal was as much his as it was Ronaldo's.

He is one man who can never say enough!

Only 140 Characters To Say it All 

In the past I have Tweeted about football and written about Twitter. I have discussed Joey Barton and his use of Twitter, mainly to try and make him seem more intelligent whilst really making himself ridiculously conceited.

Many have damned the use of Twitter, Sir Alex Ferguson said he did not understand how someone would have time to bother with it  whilst answering questions about Rio Ferdinand's Tweets.

Twitter though has proved its worth with all sorts of campaigns and charities but one major campaign Twitter has helped with was in getting #JFT96 (Justice for the 96). And one main character to help this campaign was in fact Barton himself. 

Like him or not, Tweet or not, sometimes we have to doff our caps to the power of celebrity and the power of social media, especially when there's only 140 characters to get the message across.

That's Just Champion!

Not Very Italian

Perhaps the most exciting last 22 minutes of a football match you're likely to see kicked off the 20th season of the Champions League as Manchester City came within a defensive mistake and 5 minutes of a famous victory away to Real Madrid.

That City came within 5 minutes of winning was incredible testament to their effort although, as Joe Hart said and I suggested in a previous blog post, simply going to the Bernabéu and coming close is not enough for a team of City's current stature. That the 'Blues' lost because of a serious of defensive errors is almost baffling. 

On the way to winning the league last season City conceded just 29 goals, already this season they have seen the opposition score 6 times with Arsenal to come on Sunday. Only two season's ago it was being suggested Roberto Mancini would never lead City to the Premier League title as he was too defensive, last season Mancini was able to combine defencive stability with flair and attacking prowess to win the league. Tonight, in the Champions League City looked terribly poor at the back especially Vincent Kompany, the captain and usually a rock at the back. 



It seems worrying for City that they have looked so oddly weak defensively because it is not one or two mistakes creeping in they look, as a unit, to be poor. Joe Hart has made mistakes, Vincent Kompany too, whilst Joleon Lescott looks less assured than last season- a knock on effect from Kompany's form- and the full backs have never settled under Mancini as he enjoys rotating them.

Fortunately for City their title rivals weaknesses are also prominently defensive, it means that games between the top four may turn out to be just as exciting as last season's 8-2's and 6-1's.

We're Not So Different You and I

I said in my last blog post that I thought AVB just needed time and, though the turnaround is nowhere near complete, my faith does seem a little vindicated already.

It is not just the win that has led me to gleam over AVB this week but also the manner of the football, the ex Porto manager seems to have got his system correct with Sandro and Moussa Dembele creating a fantastic midfield partnership. Villas-Boas also had a good week in the press managing to hit back at his predecessor, the shadow that is Harry Redknapp, after Harry had criticised his style of management. This was also, accidentally, a response to Martin Keown who had suggested on BBC Radio 5 Live that Villas-Boas was 'too tactical' and 'confusing' his players. 

Surely though the most pleasing thing for Spurs fans and, even more so, the manager will be the excellent form of Jermain Defoe who already has 3 league goals this season and 2 for England (which should have been 3 against Ukraine). Defoe's goals have kept Emmanuel Adebayour on the bench and the ex Portsmouth striker looks full of confidence unlikely to stop scoring.

Ironically Defoe's upturn in fortune seems to have come from AVB's man management skills and decision to give the Englishman an extended run in the team meanwhile Harry lost his job after being unable to keep his player's focus once he was convinced he'd get the England job.

Pick Your Words Wisely

Joe Hart was rightly a little mad at the end of his teams match versus Spanish champions Real Madrid. Not only had City seen their 2-1 lead to turn to a 3-2 deficit in only 5 minutes but Hart was also partially at fault for the last goal.

Hart was interviewed after the match and suggested in his answer that the interviewer wanted him to say that the team could go away from the match with their heads held high instead he apologised and then, rightly said, they were annoyed they lost from 2-1 up with 5 minutes to go and lost. He even questioned it "how can you be 2-1 up with 5 minutes to go and lose 3-2?", the answer to winning from 2-1 down is; with the will and determination to win no matter what, but then I guess he should know that after May 13th 2012!

Retain or Regain?

We're in our 20th year of the Champions League, in its current guise, and still no club has managed to defend their title as best team in Europe. On Wednesday night Chelsea begin their challenge to become the first.

Chelsea's group is tricky with Juventus and Shakhtar Donetsk to play but they should still qualify for the knockout stages. Roberto Di Matteo's side should arguably be better equipped to win the Champions League this season as their new players have made them into a dangerous attacking outfit, however this new setup will work adversely against the likes of Barcelona and this season they will also have a Premier League title challenge to contend with.

It looks like we'll be waiting till at least the 21st year till we get a defending champion!

Your Not Very Good

The King is Dead

"...It has been compounded by our own mistakes in a difficult first two years of ownership" John W Henry may not have gone as far as naming his mistakes, or any mistakes made since he bought Liverpool from their previous American owners, but we all knew what he was alluding too.

It was a bold step by Henry to release an open letter to the Liverpool less than a day since a 2-0 home loss to Arsenal and just over two and a half days since the transfer window shut with Brendan Rogers hands trapped underneath but a step he felt he had to take, it was one not only to get the players on board but seemingly the manager too.

Henry went onto say such things as;  "we are still in the process of reversing the errors of previous regimes", "spending is not merely about buying talent. Our ambitions do not lie in cementing a midtable place with expensive, short term quick fixes" and "We have no fear of spending and competing with the very best but we will not overpay for players." The 62 year old laid some blame at the feet of the previous owners but more tellingly at the previous manager's, Kenny Dalglish.

When Dalglish was given the job in January 2011 it seemed like an odd decision and one that seemed odder the more times Dalglish dipped into the transfer market starting off with the £35 million transfer of Andy Carroll and finishing nearly £100 later after Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson had joined and now, 18 months later, that odd decision seems to have derailed not only Liverpool's campaign last season but also for the forseeable future.

The Boston Red Sox owner talked about his disapointment at not being able to sign a new striker but defended their transfer dealings by talking about the likes of Joe Allen, Fabio Borini and Nuri Sahin, even though the latter is only on loan, the ability to keep hold of their current players, such as Luis Suarez and Daniel Agger and UEFA's upcoming sanctions on teams who spend beyond their means. This lack of spending stemmed from the transfer mistakes of the last 18 months.

The man known as "The King", from his playing days at Anfield, made many mistakes that ruined Liverpool's season last year it seems now he did far more to ruin the longer term too. The King may well be dead.

Rather Striking

Let's not pretend that, given the chance, most of us would have tried to move Andy Carroll on had we taken over at Anfield this summer however that decision, and Brendan Rodger's actual implementation of it, now seem ridiculous. Liverpool are left with 2 front line strikers and a mix of young talent, this is a Liverpool side attempting to play 3 upfront.

This has led to critisim of the manager for not replacing Carroll, though this has quickly subsided since the owners open letter, and thoughts of bringing in an out of contract player to the club.

Among those mentioned is former Kop hero Michael Owen. Owen has long since tainted his name at Anfield by playing for Manchester United and this, as well as injuries, seem to have soured the idea to many fans. Yet these fans also forget that Owen is certainly not 'passed it' as many would have you believe and is in fact a very viable option considering his recored off the bench for United during his time at Old Trafford.

Perhaps what many have forgotten in all this is not simply Liverpool's lack of options from the bench in case of injury but also the fact that Fabio Borini and Luis Suarez, the only epxpereinced front men, are currently under no pressure to perform as they simply cannot be dropped.


Too soon to be crap

So far this season I look a bit foolish in my thinking that Andre Villas-Boas would be a good replacement for Harry Redknapp at Tottenham Hotspur and would in fact be a better manager that 'Arry.

My assumption was based on the fact I think Redknapp is highly overrated and that AVB, unlike his predecessor, would be a master tactician. It is therefor ironic that Spurs under the Portugese manager's tutelage look all over the place and without any tactical discipline.

But Villas-Boas' early plans have been in part ruined by the ego of his boss, Daniel Levy, and the insistance on eeking out as much money out of Real Madrid for Luka Modric. In a strictly business world this would have made sense but in footballing terms it was a disaster and left the Portuguese manager with only a couple of days to buy who he needed, missing out on the likes of Joao Moutinhio.

It is not the first time that Levy has pulled this trick having waited to sell Dimitar Berbatov till the last minute. Then, as now, the team struggled early in the season. Hopefully unlike now, when the transfer of Modric was done with enough time to get in Moussa Dembele, the manager will be given time to prove his worth.

Oops, Butterfingers

The number of high profile goalkeeping errors at the beginning of this Premier League season is quite out of the ordinary, especially as some of the league's best 'keepers' have been at fault.

We've already seen mistakes from Hart, Cech, De Gea, Given, Green, Federici and Reina to name but a few.

It can't be long before the roundness of the ball is blamed, after all who wants a round ball!

After the opening, before the closing

Barce Envy!

Thursday morning I got up, late for work, got dressed and left my girlfriend's flat and headed for work and checked twitter on the way to the metro.

Now none of this is particularly interesting I agree but my girlfriend's flat has no signal for my phone and thus checking twitter leads me to read all tweets since about 8 o'clock the previous evening.
As I began my reading I realised that on top of the usual crap there was football to catch up on, namely El Classico.

As the updates began it became apparent that Real were on top and Barcelona were struggling to compete, they were soon 2-0 down and had Adriano sent off. Oddly enough I wasn't really surprised by this. I was, however, taken aback by the amount of vitriol tweeted against Barca and how much glee there was in seeing them lose.

Over the last few years the Catalans have excited and entertained us by playing their brand of beautiful football, they've done it all whilst winning endless amounts of trophies. Such is the appeal of how Barcelona play that the Spanish national side have adopted this approach and this has bought about 2 European Championships and a World Cup triumph. And yet there is happiness when they lose?

There is criticism when Stoke win and achieve above their expectations playing in a way that is considered 'anti-football' now there is joy to see Barcelona lose playing a completely opposite way, for me both can be explained by envy. Arsenal have had no success playing what they believe to be Barcesque football so they instantly patronise the way Stoke win matches, meanwhile other teams question if Lionel Messi could "do it" on a cold Wednesday night.

The football snobbery and jealousy is pathetic and needs to stop. We should embrace the differing styles of football, much like great fights in boxing are created by differing styles so are great football rivalries.
Another reason for the hatred of Barce is that the press swoon over them and in particular Messi and so people get bored of all the stats and praise to some extent this makes sense but the reason that people go on about Barcelona is simple, they are perhaps the best side to ever play football and that is something to celebrate!



18 Months is a long time in football

Can it really only be 18 months since that barmy couple of days at the end of January 2011 when Chelsea splashed out £50 million pounds on Fernando Torres and Liverpool used the cash raised to pay £35 million for Andy Carroll, for both much has changed since then.

Torres was at the time already short of form and often getting injured. Carroll, on the other hand, was flying high in his first season in the Premier League, given the famous number 9 shirt for the Magpies and had netted 11 times in just 19 Premier League games. Then came the Chelsea bid for Torres which would lead to Carroll going to Liverpool, it was too much money for most transfers never mind for a just turned 22 year old fresh in the Premier League.

The moves turned out to be awful for both players with both having dreadful first full seasons with their new clubs. Torres though has benefited from a summer transfer campaign geared towards playing him as the main man upfront on his own whilst Carroll has had to sit back and watch the new manager transform Liverpool into a side that would never be able to function with him in it.

Carroll has been sent to West Ham on loan, he didn't really want to go but he had to if he wanted to play this season. At the Hammers he will get the chance to be the main man but with far less expectation baring in mind the last 18 months and the lowly £1 million pound loan fee.

It may only be 18 months but at 23 and worth £34 million pound less this is a crucial time for Carroll's career.

Spurned in the Champions League

For the 2nd year in a row Manchester City were handed a horrible draw in the Champions League group stages after being grouped with the champions of Spain, Holland and Germany.

Manchester United, on the other hand, were handed another easy draw this time being drawn with Braga, Galatasary and Cluj. 

I was asked how I felt about the draw and as a United fan I was pleased to get an easy group but a little gutted there was no exciting matches, unlike in City's group. I then heard Spurs fans compare City's plight to their own Champions League experience when they played Inter Milan, A.C Milan and Real Madrid and loved every minute of the journey even when losing. This was an admirable stand point but not the right one.

The Spurs experience was one of "happy to be here", "lets enjoy it whilst we can" and so the trips to Milan and Madrid were exciting and magical no matter what. Spurs hope to get in the top 4 for the money and the prestige, City on the other hand hope to qualify for the Champions League by winning the Premier League and then going onto win the Champions League and so their draw is a bad one. No doubt it will give them great experience playing big teams rather than being an experience.

Basically get through the group easily and earn the chance to play the likes of Barcelona in the quarters, semis and final and that's what United should do, City on the other hand...

Euro Zone in Crisis

There are a few things in life I know something about, one is Jewish Sunday league football. I whittle it down to be that specific because suggesting I know about football opens me up to all sorts of criticism when I get things drastically wrong, although I did say before the season that Spurs wouldn't qualify for the Champions League.

There are also some things in life that I know a little bit about and can fill in the rest with pretence, subterfuge and doublespeak- ask me about politics and I'll be happy to show you.

Finally there are things that I understand so little that I've gone way past the idea of pretending, I won't even nod and smile along to conversations about these topics I'll just shut up. On a personal note the first of these topics is women! Having spent about a decade trying I finally gave up a couple of years ago because it's impossible to actually work them out.

Women have nothing to do with this blog post!

On the other hand a topic I've never attempted to get my head round is money. I realise that is a shocking statement for a Jew to make but you have to appreciate that I've just never cared. With the recent economic crisis hitting the world over the last few years I should have potentially cared, instead I turned my cheek...until now.

England, of course, have always been steadily near the top if unspectacular. Mixing it with the world power houses we'll always have a say but the man in charge is unlikely to ever have the cahunas to take on his opposite numbers in the bigger nations. We may not have invented it but we defined the rules and we should be better at using it.

The French on the other hand will come in talking of revolution. There will be a new leader at almost every turn waiting to show those who are known to be more powerful that they hold the trump cards. There will though be an attached arrogance that will often see them return home after heated discussion with their tail between their legs.

Portugal will be bit part players in this world, there for entertainment purposes and holidays. Having said that there's always the chance that they'll be the first people to collapse.

Greece have never built their reputation on being spectacular, in fact not even on being solid, they've never had that much of a reputation other than for smashing plates. Back in 2004 they shocked everyone with a short burst of excellence in the field, as we all know that never lasted and despite having the ability to make headlines it's likely to be for all the wrong reasons.

The Italians are well known for their corruption. One could never trust anything run by Silvio Berlusconi or indeed involving the man known for his 'Bunga Bunga parties' and yet the country shaped like a boot has surprised the world, never mind just the continent, from a position of disaster and corruption before. It is a sad state of affairs that history is repeating itself with new people in charge and new people involved and one can't help but think this time they may pay the penalty instead of ending up rewarded.

The Swiss of course don't figure. Neutrality is not the only thing they do well, there's money. With their own currency and efficient ways Switzerland haven't been invited to the party this time round, but then they're hardly the most exciting of guests.

One definite party invite are the Spanish. So aesthetically pleasing with everything they do. They may not be well known for their business acumen but they've come far since the days of the Pesos held them back and whenever they looked like they could be world beaters they would fall quite early on. They would never be left to help look after the rest of the Euro zone though as they might destroy it all.

Finally the big boys, Germany. Never the underdogs, never ruled out and always strong. The Germans are led well, never like to be pushed around and can almost always be relied on to react well under pressure. They welcome all challengers and especially love a good fight with the Dutch, French and English. Only a handful of times since the 70's have the Germans not been one of the two top dogs in the European yard. Such is their power and strength they are often seen as big players on the world stage too.

I may not know much about money but I sure can speak with a lot of pretence, subterfuge and doublespeak!

Harry and Me; 2 Peas in a Pod

I've always had a suspicion that I have more in common with Harry Redknapp than I've ever cared to admit, and that's without the obvious jokes to do with his alleged tax fraud and management of Tottenham Hotspur to compare with my religion of 'choice'.

The mad scramble for Mata's goal

I mean despite the fact I think Harry is an overrated manager or at least he was, not sure if anyone is currently rating him that highly, he clearly loves his football, is passionate about it and tries to play attacking football. According to that font of all knowledge, Wikipedia, we're both 5"11 and whilst both at Wembley for Spurs F.A Cup semi final vs Chelsea neither thought that Juan Mata's goal had crossed over the line. Okay so I've been kind of clutching at straws since the opening 'joke', although my first game in charge of Sporting JLGB did end in a 5-3 loss so we are both clearly happy to give up defensive solidity for goals, but there does seem to genuinely be one thing 'Arry and I have in common, apparently we both love Football Manager.

Now I can't deny my love for the game franchise. Football Manager and, before the split in 2005, Championship Manager have ruined big portions of my life. There was my GCSE's and the arrival of my new laptop the day before the English Literature exam. Whilst I should have been going over the notes in my Anthology and re-reading 'Half Caste' by John Agard I was too busy leading Millwall into the European Champions League using Championship Manager's 03/04 edition. It wasn't really my fault Josh Taylor, a good friend of mine, had challenged me to do better with 'The Lions' than he'd managed plus Freddy Adu was on fire! Then in 2006 my A-levels were interrupted by a mixture of the World Cup in Germany and Football Manager, but who would choose learning about local government over an afternoon of watching a small dot that represented Daniel Sturridge score a hat-trick for Bury against Portsmouth in the opening game of the Premier League season 2011/12?

To be honest with you the current version, Football Manager 2012, is currently open on the very laptop I'm typing this blog post on and the very same Daniel Sturridge, now represented by a 2D humanish shaped shape, is now scoring a brace in the Spanish Super Cup vs Barcelona for Athletico Madrid.

So what's all this got to do with Harry? Does the Sidler have some extraordinary inside information that he can confirm the Spurs boss is a big FM fan?

Well.... No but, back in January, Redknapp did some incredible transfer business that left most of us asking some questions we couldn't answer. At the time I couldn't quite put my finger on it but after reading an exclusive by Matt Law in the Express today I suddenly realised what he'd done. Law's piece in today's paper centred on the signing's that Spurs had made in January in the form of Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen and the fact they had not added to the teams quality, in fact they'd done the opposite, and this is where the game comes into it. Those who have ever played Sports Interactive's highly addictive games will know that it is almost impossible, no matter how good your side might be, to at least attempt to make signings in every transfer window- a great example of this was when, as Manchester United boss, I sold an out of form Steven Gerrard back to Liverpool and replaced him with an over the hill Emerson essentially just for the sake of it. In January Harry sold Roman Pavlyuchenko (yeah I used Google for the spelling) a perfectly capable but generally unfancied centre forward and replaced him with haplessly out of form, injury prone, Louis Saha. He also sent useful but unfancied central defender Sebastien Bassong out on loan to QPR and bought in massively injury prone Ryan Nelsen from Blackburn into a side who already had central defenders well known for spending mass amounts of time in the physio's room. No one is doubting that Harry needed to invest in his squad, behind the first 11 it was always going to be a side lacking in real quality, but he had to invest for the sake of improving the squad and not invest just for the sake of spending money- ending up with like for like replacements.

Penny for your thoughts?

Harry has also struggled with another 'in game' issue with his tactics. Every now and again on Football Manager one will simply find his tactics not working any more, or perhaps get bored of them, and will end up changing them to regain some sort of positive form but this is clearly foolish. Teams, and players individually, will obviously go through both good and bad form in a season and a change of formation just because things aren't going well for a while are far too reactionary and will not help get players back to form considering they were in form in the original formation early on. Spurs have suffered from having a decent, not great, group of players in very good form early on in the season, that group is now not in form and without being great players this means they will obviously suffer as they are generally better than the sum of all their parts.

Without winning their last four games of the season Harry and Tottenham may miss out on Champions League football, unfortunately for Redknapp there is no option to quit and start from his last saved game... not that I've ever done that!