Manchester United Sign Van Persie For £24 Million – Is This Good For United? Erm…

‘This time next year…’

…No, no it is not, but I’ll get to the whys and why nots of Van Persie’s worth to Manchester United later on in the article, for now, good morning to you and I hope you’re well.

After a day of rain yesterday, we’re back to a booming sunshine today. I love English weather and the unpredictability of it all. No, really, I do, I’d bloody well hate it if it were sunny all the time and I had a tan. Anyway, less of the weather, you don’t want to hear about that, I’ll save weather talk for my blog with Sian Lloyd, you’re here for the Robin Van Persie story.

Robin Van Persie moves to Manchester United

Yesterday evening, as I was erecting a wardrobe, Arsenal announced that terms had been agreed with Manchester United for the sale of Dutch striker and Arsenal captain, Robin Van Persie. The transfer fee is £24 million and Van Persie signs a deal worth £200,000 a week for the next four years.

On face value, Manchester United have captured the best striker on the planet, a guy who won every single player of the year award there was last season and scored thirty-plus goals for Arsenal. As I say, at face value, it seems that United have caught a real gem, but, if you scratch a little at the surface, there’s a few doubts surrounding the merits of this deal.

Breaking it down, £24 million for a 29 year old striker with an incredible injury record is a lot of money, even more so when you include wages into that and it brings the total outlay on Van Persie to above £65 million. For his first six seasons with Arsenal, Van Persie never scored more than 11 and last season was the first in which Van Persie scored more than twenty in a season for Arsenal. There has never been any doubting of Van Persie’s talent, but I do question whether or not he can stay fit enough for United to justify spending so much considering his record, which lets face it, isn’t that great.

Not only do Van Persie’s injury problems concern me, it’s how he will fit in at Old Trafford. No, I don’t mean if he’ll fit in with Rio Ferdinand, or whether not he’ll get along with Nani, what I mean, is will Van Persie fit into the system United currently have? I ask, because both he and Rooney are so similar in terms of their style, that I don’t think there is room for them both in the same starting eleven. Both forwards like to drop back, with Van Persie stating that his preferred role is that of a ‘false ten’, who drops backs to create and join in with the midfield play, not necessarily hang about on his up front all day. The same applies with Rooney, and with Shinji Kagawa, signed from Borussia Dortmund, who is also a similar type of player in that he likes to dictate play close to the forwards, will United have sufficient room? Me, I doubt that Rooney, Van Persie and Kagawa can play in the same side.

While I have doubts over United’s shape and how they will accomodate the £24 million presence of Van Persie, I also question whether United could have better spent their money? Signings for deep midfield (something I’ve been going on about for two years now) and a left-back to replace Patrice Evra. The job of United’s midfield players has been to gain possession and then sweep the ball out wide, which is predictable and has blighted them for over a year now. Kagawa is a great midfield signing, but he’s never played as a deep midfielder before, he’s a forward in essence and signing a creative midfielder to partner Michael Carrick would have been far more beneficial to United than the signing of Van Persie.

For me, Sir Alex Ferguson has indulged in a signing he doesn’t really need to keep disgruntled sections of the United support happy. The trouble is, most United fans I’ve spoken to are dubious over Van Persie’s signing, adamant that their money could have been better spent and they are absolutely right in believing that. Last summer I said that United needed to sign a top midfield player, with the names of Wesley Sneijder and Samir Nasri heavily linked with moves to Old Trafford, but nothing happened. I claimed that United would not win anything unless they signed a creative midfielder, and guess what – they didn’t.

I am not doubting the talents of Van Persie, far from it, he’s the best striker in the world right now, but at 29 years old, for how much longer before he begins his decline? Is that a good risk at £24 million? I don’t think United really need Van Persie and that will become apparent enough as the season goes on, of that I’m sure.

What does this mean for Arsenal?

As I’ve said previously, £24 million is a fantastic deal for Arsenal. To sell a player with less than a year left on is contract, at the age of 29, for £24 million, is fantastic business. Arsenal have signed three players: Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, all of players of great quality and I don’t think Van Persie will be missed.

Arsenal have always been a very fluid team and in the season in which Fabregas and Nasri were still at the club, the fluidity of Arsenal going forward was scary and that has long been a strength for Arsenal. Last season, out of necessity, Arsenal had to be more rigid with how they played, creating a supply line dedicated to Van Persie’s left foot. Arsenal lost the fluidity, but still managed to finish in third, a place higher than they had achieved with Fabregas and Nasri the previous season. Basically, Arsenal found a way of coping without them and will find a way to cope without Van Persie.

Using Borussia Dortmund as a comparitive now, the first of their two consecutive Bundesliga titles was won by playing to a rigid system like Arsenal did last season, feeding Lucas Barrios. It worked for Dortmund, but then Barrios picked up a serious injury before last season started and Robert Lewandowski, signed the previous summer, had to replace Barrios. Lewandowski is a player who likes to go wide and move about, so Jurgen Klopp, the Dortmund manager, recalibrated his side to be more fluid, changing the system to accomodate Lewandowski. As a result, Dortmund won a double, sold Barrios as they no longer needed him and unearthed a class talent in Lewandowski.

Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla will bring Arsenal back to a more fluid approach, beneficial to how Arsene Wenger likes his football to be played. Although no one player may score more goals than Van Persie did last season, you will find that the goals will be shared about more. Outside of Van Persie, there was only really Theo Walcott who offered a consistent goal threat, whereas this year, of Walcott stays, then the attacking options are phenomenal and though the goals won’t be scored en masse by one individual, they will be shared about as a result of tinkering with their system, just as Jurgen Klopp did last season with Dortmund.

With Van Persie now sold, Arsenal’s net spend is at zero when the sales of Ozyakup and Carlos Vela are taken into account, plus the fact that Van Persie had to waiver his loyalty bonus, consequently meaning that Arsenal have about £30 million to spend should they require it, courtesy of the Queensland Road property which was sold earlier this year.

The litmus test for Arsenal, is how they spend the Van Persie money. Personally, I don’t think a high profile striker is needed in particular, but back-up strikers to supplement Podolski and Giroud. If appropriate back-up is brought in to the Emirates Stadium, then Arsenal have had their best summer of spending since time began.

That’s all from me today.

See you tomorrow.

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Craig in England, Premiership 2 Comments

Manchester United Sell Shares / Ferdinand Charged Over Tweet / Could Arshavin Stay At Arsenal?

Good morning!

NewsNow this morning was a depressing sight of the same old, regurgitated stories. Honestly, I’m sick of reading about Robin Van Persie and which club he may end up at; my ‘r’, ‘v’ and ‘p’ keys have taken such a battering, that I have to punch them in order to even type. You’re breaking my laptop, Robin, I hope you’re happy with yourself.

Anyway, in the news this morning…

Manchester United to sell shares

The Glazer family have have issued a statement of intent to sell just over ten per cent of Manchester United on the stock exchange. Selling just over ten per cent on the New York stock exchange would raise $300 million (£191 million, to me and you). Raising £191 million? That’s great! You would think, anyway. The prospectus released to accompany Monday’s announcement indicates that only half of that sum will go towards paying off Manchester United’s current debt of over £400 million. The other half of that sum will go directly to the Glazer family, which last sent United fans into uproar.

Since taking over in 2005, cash has disappeared in mysterious way under charge of the Glazers and this is just the latest amount of cash to make its merry way to America in a Securicor van.

Moving away from that, Manchester United also announced a new shirt sponsor yesterday, only the fifth shirt sponsor in the club’s 134 year history. United’s seven year deal with Chevrolet was announced yesterday by United and General Motors. The deal will take place when the current shirt sponsor, Aon, sees its contract expire, meaning Chevrolet will be branded across United shirts for the 2014/15 season. At £30 million a year, the Chevrolet deal dwarfs the current Aon contract of £20 million a year over four years. Over seven years, the Chevrolet deal will be worth a staggering £210 million to Manchester United. This deal comes a mere six weeks after Chevrolet were announced as Manchester United’s official car partner just six weeks ago, replacing the previous deal with Audi.

Manchester United have again shown how far ahead they are above other clubs commercially. Though not always a million miles ahead of other teams on the pitch, their commerical value is amazing and though some actions taken by the Glazers since they took charge of Manchester United have been unsavoury to say the least, their propensity to strike commercial deals has been outstanding.

Rio Ferdinand charged over tweet

The FA have charged Rio Ferdinand over a tweet aimed at Ashley Cole with possible racial connotations. After the Chelsea left-back had given evidence which favoured John Terry at the hearing between Terry and Anton Ferdinand, Rio’s brother, Rio conducted a tweet saying Cole was a ‘choc ice’, which means a person is ‘black on the outside, white on the inside’. Ferdinand soon claimed the tweet to be a common saying used by ‘many people’ referring to people who are ‘being fake’.

Personally, I’ve never heard of the term ‘choc ice’ used as a medium to call a person ‘fake’. According to The Times, Ferdinand is undecided as to whether or not he should appeal charges by the FA or wait, do nothing and accept the consequences.

Some weeks ago now, I declared on here that Gary Madine of Sheffield Wednesday was a fool for being caught tweaking the nipple of a topless model on Twitter, saying that football players have a social duty to perform on Twitter. More and more, terms are being written into contracts where commercial deals demand that a player has Twitter so they can push their brand, for example Jack Wilshere giving us updates of his career on FIFA 12 and the constant tweets from Cristiano Ronaldo endorsing Castrol.

Madine should not have allowed that picture to surface on Twitter, nor should Rio Ferdinand have made comments on the Terry v Ferdinand court case. Football players have an obligation to act as pristine role models for their fans and whatever consequences Ferdinand faces over his ‘choc ice’ tweet he receives, then it is deserved.

Does Andrey Arshavin have a future at Arsenal?

Having confirmed that Nicklas Bendtner, Sebastian Squillaci and Park Chu-Young would all be leaving the Emirates this summer, Arsene Wenger hinted that Arshavin could have a future at Arsenal when he said, ‘Arshavin, it depends. We have to sit together and have talks. He could still have a future at the club’.

To many outside Arsenal, Arshavin remains a mystery. When he joined Arsenal in late January, 2009, he arrived a superstar having just set Euro 2008 alight with his performances for Russia. Like he did at Euro 2008, Arshavin went on to tear the Premier League apart, scoring four against Liverpool and scoring a goal against Blackburn which remains in my eyes as the best I’ve ever seen (live, anyway). In little over twelve matches, Arshavin scored six and assisted six.

For a number of reasons, those amongst them being played out of position as a main striker due to injury to every other striker at Arsenal and being crippled by the pressure of captaining Russia through the World Cup qualifying stages, Arshavin lost his form. Arsene Wenger even said that Arshavin had told him that he wished to retire from football as he had completely lost his love for it. Always honest and never one to make a meal out of anything, Arshavin said in an interview that he’d lost all confidence in the 2010/11 season, when he declared how uncomfortable he felt when he received the ball, that his confidence felt shot. All the same, Arshavin continued to score and make assists, but as his performances deteriorated, so did his goal return and last season, Arshaving, Arsenal’s record signing, had got so bad that he was allowed to return to Russia on loan, where he once again found his form for Zenit St Petersburg and then played well for Russia at Euro 2012.

If Arshavin’s confidence can be restored, then there is no reason as to why he can’t return to the form of his older self. Ask most Arsenal fans and they will say they love Arshavin. For sheer talent, Arshavin changes matches in the flick of a football boot and if mixed with the likes of Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud, Santi Cazorla and Nuri Sahin next season, I can see the Arshavin of old coming out of his shell when allowed to play with experienced players.

Right, that’s your lot from me today.

See you tomorrow!

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Craig in England, Premiership 1 Comment

Manchester Utd Open Door For Manchester City

Can Manchester City walk through it?

Good morning all!

A few weeks back, I claimed the Premier League title was settled after Arsenal had put Manchester City to the sword at the Emirates. It wasn’t just that defeat that had made up my mind about Manchester City’s title challenge, yet a culmination of that defeat, losing away to Swansea weeks before and the tired, gaunt expressions demonstrated by Roberto Mancini and his charges. For me, and I believe everyone else, the title was finished, wrapped up and decorated with red ribbons, Old Trafford bound.

It’s now safe to say I’m being made to chew on my words. In the last eleven days, Manchester United have been played off the park, beaten and humiliated by a hungry Wigan Athletic side, and were yesterday out-fought by a doggedly determined Everton team.

Both of those sides, Wigan and Everton, have agendas of their own. Wigan on the one hand have a relegation fight to scrap their way out of, while Everton had to produce a good performance for morale after a withered performance against Liverpool in the FA Cup Semi-Final last Saturday.

Although both have their agendas, surely, just surely, Manchester United have wielded the strength and ability over a course of nineteen league titles under Sir Alex Ferguson to be able to see off teams such as Wigan and Everton, no matter their own ambitions are?

Manchester United did not field a weakened side yesterday. Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick were sent to marshall the midfield, with Nani and Antonio Valencia either side of Schols and Carrick. Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck took to their usual positions as SAF started with his customary two up-front. For Everton, Phil Neville and Darren Gibson took to the centre of midfield to face their former club as Everton looked to flood United’s midfield with a five man unit, with Marouane Fellaini as the additional midfielder, playing slightly further forward than Neville or Gibson.

Everton opened the scoring 33 minutes in. Nikica Jelavic met a great cross from Tony Hibbert to present Everton a 1-0 lead. From where the Croatian striker was placed – at the far post, at an angle – it seemed a goal was unlikely, but Jelavic sent his header back across goal, dipping over De Gea and into the top corner. It was a quality header, one worthy of the £7 million David Moyes spent on him and Jelavic is now Everton’s top scorer having only signed in January.

It took Manchester United just eight minutes to reply. Everton’s opener had set Manchester United into their rhythm and finally started to look a threat going forward. Nani was allowed too much time on the left-wing as Manchester United increased the tempo, and shifting the ball on to his right foot, the Portuguese winger whipped and in-swinging cross across the 6 yard area, where Wayne Rooney was found to be lurking, gratefully heading past his former colleague Tim Howard to draw parity in the match.

Sir Alex Ferguson was made to wait until the 57th minute to see his team bag their second and what a goal it was. To cut short a prolonged Manchester United move; Nani won a header on the edge of Everton’s penalty area and the ball fell to Danny Welbeck. The England international dummied in a tight area and thus worked a gap for himself to shoot, delivering a curling effort into Howard’s top left-hand corner.

Manchester United further increased that lead just moments later when a flowing move saw Danny Welbeck turn architect of a United goal, slipping a first-time pass for Nani to chip over Howard from close range. David Moyes was incandescent on the touchline as Steven Pienaar had gone down injured just seconds before United scored. It wasn’t a head injury, Pienaar had slipped on the turf and stretched his groin. Manchester United hadn’t fouled the player, the South African wasn’t clutching his head, Nani’s chip was perfectly legal and there can be no complaints over it whatsoever.

Now Manchester United were 3-1 ahead, I considered the game as dead, so went off to start cooking a Sunday dinner, though I was still watching the match as it was being played. Marouane Fellaini brought Everton back to within a goal of Manchester United, Tony Hibbert laying his second assist of the afternoon for Fellaini, who volleyed past De Gea from close range.

Wayne Rooney then restored Manchester United’s two goal advantage a couple of minutes later. Danny Welbeck and Rooney worked a clever one-two on the edge of Everton’s penalty area and again, Welbeck turned provider, giving Rooney plenty of space to finish past Tim Howard.

At 4-2, surely Manchester United were safe, but the turning point was yet to come. Patrice Evra hit the post from close range with a diving header and minutes later, Everton were up the other end, Jelavic scoring his second due to an unsurprising defensive lapse from Rio Ferdinand. As good as Ferdinand is, his concentration at times can leave little to be desired. This may be controversial considering his form, but I’d still have John Terry ahead of him for England duty this summer.

Two minutes later, Everton had equalised. Fellaini swivelled perfectly inside the area to produce a simple pass for Steven Pienaar to level proceedings and thus smash a huge hole in the title race.

Manchester United have squandered an eight-point gap in just a few weeks. Manchester City went out to play Wolverhampton Wanderers an hour after United had dropped points and comfortably beat a now-relegated Wolves side 2-0, thanks to goals from Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri. All 35 matches that both sides have played this season will ride on next Monday’s match. If Manchester United win, they open up a six point gap on Manchester City and that would be the title as good as over with two matches left to play. If Manchester City were to beat United next Monday, they would just need victory over Newcastle United and QPR to win the league, providing Manchester United didn’t overhaul City’s goal difference.

What a finale we have awaiting us.

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

That’s Why They’re Champions

picture via whoateallthepies.tv

Good morning!

I’m sorry this post is a ~~lot~~ little later than usual. Better late than never and all that!

Anyway, I’ll crack on, we have a fair bit to discuss this morning! As a child, you must have played maybe a game of pool, snooker, basketball or football with your Dad and always emerged the loser. I can never recall beating my Dad when I was little at any game, I was always beaten, even at arcade games. When it came to activities such as basketball and football, I was younger, fitter and could out-run my Dad all day long. Despite this, I never won.

As I said yesterday, winning is 70% in your head, 30% is down to skill. Holding the mentality to win is the key to unleashing your skill, if you think of nothing but defeat and fear such a thing, you’ll never win and you don’t find it possible and as such, no matter how skilled you are, that talent will be stifled. My Dad was obviously much physically stronger than me, which I was petrified of. For me, a child, I couldn’t even possibly beging to believe I could defeat a man so much bigger than me, so despite being more skilful, energetic etc, I couldn’t win due to my mentality.

In role-reversal, it’s the same with my little brother. Of course, he’ll beat me on occassion when we’re playing FIFA on the PS3, but for the majority I’m the victor. I’ve seen my brother play single player on that game and against his mates online, and he’s brilliant at the game, he’s better than me in that he knows all the buttons to produce special skill moves. Again, that’s all down to mentality. My brother is just as good as me when it comes to playing the game, he can be 1-0 ahead with five virtual minutes left on the clock and there are visible signs of my brother panicking about what could happen and more often than not, I’ll pull a goal back.

To reiterate, winning is 70% mental strength, without it, victory is impossible.

With Manchester City, they play the role of me as a child, or my little brother, in the sense that when it comes to crunch time, they’ve been overshadowed by a superior rival. Manchester City have a fantastic squad, they really do, I’d even go as far to say that as a squad, Manchester City are stronger than Barcelona. To make it clear, Barcelona’s first team is head, shoulders and torso above Manchester City, but as a collective squad, City edge it. Manchester City can lay claim to some special players: Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Samir Nasri, Mario Balotelli, Vincent Kompany, Joe Hart, Carlos Tevez etc. That is Manchester City’s 30% I was talking about, the skill that is required to win championships. Of course, they’ll get the odd victory over their rivals, such as the 6-1 hammering of United at Old Trafford and last season’s FA Cup Semi-Final, but ultimately they will always fall short of ultimate success to their bitter rivals.

For all of their skill, Manchester City haven’t moulded that winning mentality to perfection yet, it’ll take years and years before they manage to achieve such a level. Against Sunderland at the weekend, nerves transferred from City’s fans to the Etihad pitch and City’s players looked frozen, lethargic and abandoned of all their talent.

On the flip-side to that, Manchester United’s fans last night, were singing throughout the match, even as the game looked to be heading towards a draw, they kept singing, knowing a goal would arrive and it did, through Antonio Valencia, and again through Ashley Young. That right there is the mentality which wins championships.

The above paragraphs make it seem as if I’m a staunch Manchester United fan, but believe me, that is far from the case. I’m a Gooner, an Arsenal fan and I can tell you first hand how much I’d love to be able to retain the Premier League title in the way Manchester United can. Every fan, of every team in the country, wants the success Manchester United claim season upon season. To hear of rival fans claim Sir Alex Ferguson bribes referees and that they favour United is pure rubbish.

In some perverse way, we enjoy failure in England. Look at the headlines each day in the paper, relating to the downfall of some celebrity or high figure in the world. We love reading about failure, we love debating why they’ve failed and laugh when see a person hit rock-bottom. That’s why fans continually moan about Manchester United and cite their winning of trophies down to cheating and bribery. Nobody likes a perennial winner in England.

In Spain, Barcelona are lauded for their style, for what they’ve brought to the Spanish national team. If Barcelona were to crumble for some reason or another, it would be a disaster in Spain, a true national disaster and the Spanish population (maybe apart from inhabitants of Madrid) would be distraught at the falling of such a giant.

Of course, we can laugh when our team beats Manchester United, I’ve been to Old Trafford enough as an Arsenal fan to know I laud it over United fans when Arsenal win, that’s only natural.

My point is, that Manchester United should be celebrated for their success, rather than derided and called for achieving victory via ugly methods.

That’s your lot from me today, enjoy your day!

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

Manchester United 1-0 Fulham

Good morning all!

I know the title this morning is pretty simplistic, but my other idea of, ‘Manchester United win a game despite not having a clear-cut penalty awarded against them in the 91st minute. What a bloody shocker, United never get that kind of luck’, would have just been far, far too long.

Before the match last night, Gary Neville revealed one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s biggest fear is his team going a goal or two up and then sitting on that lead as they come to the end of the season. When a title chase is as close as this, Sir Alex Ferguson wants his teams to chase goals and win three, four, or even five-nil, just in case the title is eventually decided on goal difference. It seems a pretty obvious thing to want from your team, but I like these little snippets about managers, though Arsene Wenger’s analysis of Mikel Arteta’s foot size over the weekend is pretty hard to top.

With this admission made by Neville, Manchester United went out and proved to be the antithesis of Sir Alex Ferguson’s desires. Having gone a goal ahead through Wayne Rooney just before half-time, United never really pushed for a second, despite a continued theme of half-chances throughout the second half.

United started the match well enough, battering Fulham into their own half and United imposed themselves on the match, starting as if to say to Fulham, ‘there is no way you can win this match’. For about ten minutes, this was the case, as United probed and tried to work openings. It was nice to watch from United, there was nothing brutal about their build-up and they were pretty easy on the eye.

That lasted for all of ten minutes however, when Fulham seized a foothold in the match and started to play their own brand of ‘pretty’ football, which they’ve been so desperately trying to make work under Martin Jol. At times this season, Fulham have pulled it off, with their best examples coming against Arsenal and Wolves at Craven Cottage, but it’s not been something Fulham have shown great consistency with.

Like United, Fulham enjoyed a spell of pressure, but never really made it tell and the match swung to and fro between both sides as neither never really dominated, despite United’s higher shot count. As Fulham dropped off late in the first half, United found themselves back on the front foot for the remaining five minutes and scored what would turn out to be the winning goal through Wayne Rooney, who has now scored seventeen goals in his last seventeen matches in all competitions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SfdLlW_i7A

As I said, after that Manchester United never really imposed themselves on Fulham to grab a crucial second to kill of Fulham and shorten that goal difference between themselves and Manchester City.

With that said, Fulham were brilliant defensively and if United had pushed on too much, Fulham would have been able to hit United on the break and the two points dropped by United would have been far more detrimental to their title winning ambitions for this season than the extra goal would have been pivotal. What is for certain, is that United failed to kill off the match last night and if Michael Oliver had indeed blown his whistle for a penalty in the 91st minute, two points would have gone down the drain in an instant, once again handing the initiative to Manchester City.

I don’t know if you’ve seen the incident, but it is 100% a penalty, no question about it. Danny Murphy bursts into the penalty area having been fed a pass by Bryan Ruiz, when Michael Carrick comes in behind Murphy, sending Murphy to ground as he’s looking ready to shoot. Carrick’s foot hits Murphy’s standing leg and Carrick fails to touch the ball, whilst a push in the back from Carrick sends Murphy tumbling over.

Michael Oliver is a bright, young referee, one if the best in the business and is usually fantastic at his job and he’d done a very good job till that point. Though it was a nailed-on penalty, I had the beauty of hindsight, being able to see Carrick’s challenge from all angles. (though my tv view did mean I thought it was a penalty straight away) Michael Oliver was shown the be positioned about fifteen yards away, positioned directly behind the incident, meaning he cannot judge for certain whether or not Carrick has pushed Murphy in the back, nor can he make a positive call on whether or not Carrick’s foot catches Murphy.

If Oliver had been positioned anywhere else but where he was, I’m very confident a penalty would have been awarded to Fulham, of that I have no doubts. It is belittling, lazy and incredibly insulting of a man at the top of his profession, to suggest Oliver ‘bottled’ last night’s penalty decision. It’s very easy for the average fan to say Oliver bottled the call. Human error contributed to that decision last night, not the personality of a ‘bottler’. It was human error for Oliver to be stood where he was, I don’t believe anybody could give a penalty when situated fifteen yards out of the penalty area.

If a referee is unsure of a penalty decision, then it shouldn’t be a penalty, it’s as simple as that. These decision cost clubs millions at the end of the season and pure guesswork is not a healthy way to decide such big decisions. If Oliver is unsure, which he was, then he made the correct call, even if the challenge itself was a penalty.

Manchester United however, should have never allowed the match to hinge on one penalty call. A failure to kill off Fulham last night would have been a disaster in their bid to retain the Premiership, but as always, an under-par Manchester United claimed the three points and that, is how champions are made.

That’s your lot from me today, see you in the comments…

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

Sheffield Wednesday Keep Pressure on Sheff United / Man United Eclipse Man City / Don’t Sack Pearson!

Good morning one and all!

Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed watching Norwich City v Wigan Athletic yesterday, I couldn’t help but think that the real action was concerning Manchester United v West Brom and Swansea City v Manchester City. I appreciate that both Manchester clubs were orignally scheduled to play on Saturday, only being moved to Sunday due to their Europa League committments, but surely a brand such as Sky Sports could have snaffled the TV rights for that one?

Was really anything preventing Sky Sports from televising both matches yesterday? Showing Manchester United live on Sky Sports Two, (let Norwich and Wigan have their original arrangement) with a red button option on the Manchester United match to view the Manchester City game. What with the ‘relatively big’ matter of a title to be decided, that would have been a great idea and what with Manchester City losing to Swansea as United won, would have provided great entertainment.

Anyway, that was my only gripe from the weekend. Oh, no it isn’t actually. I spent a good twenty minutes yesterday on hold waiting to talk about a quote for insurance on a new car. Bare in mind that yesterday was Sunday, a day of the week I hardly regard as being busy for car insurance. As much as I lik ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ by The Verve, it was only an instrumental version and I was getting very bored.

Anyway, that’s three paragraphs of me moaning, like a woman. I’m joking, of course, women are very tolerable and rarely whing about things of no importance. I on the other hand, moan about being put on hold for a car insurance quote. Maybe I’m ‘moaning like a Craig’.

Getting into the thick of it now, starting with Sheffield Wednesday and their shiny new Manager, Dave Jones, once of Cardiff City if you remember. You may also recall that Jones replaced the sacked Gary Megson, who had just claimed victory in a hotly contested Sheffield derby, something that I didn’t agree with.

Reading that back, it may seem that I disagreed with Sheffield Wednesday winning the ‘Steel City Derby. I have no problem with that. I meant Milan Mandaric deciding to sack the Ginger Mourinho (Gary Megson) straight off the back of a victory over Sheffield United. Has any Manager in world football ever been sacked following a victory over their biggest rivals? I somehow doubt it and for many reasons, I criticised Mandaric for his decision, I still do.

Whilst I disagree with Mandaric sacking Megson at such a crucial point of the season, I am a fan of Dave Jones, Megson’s replacement. Dave Jones is essentially an upgrade on Megson and the man will get results, of that I’m absolutely sure.

Following Jones’ appointment, he’s overseen a 0-0 draw with a pretty poor Rochdale side from the stands and as Manager, has directed Wednesday to a 4-1 and 3-0 victory over Bury and Bournemouth respectively. Having looked as if they could face the serious prospect of falling out of the play-off places, Sheffield Wednesday now look to have consolidated third, just as Sheffield United in second place begin to choke.

To reiterate, I don’t agree with sacking Gary Megson, I rarely accept Manager’s getting the sack mid-way through a season. Only in certain circumstances will I accept it, otherwise, do it in the summer.

Taking Megson out of the equation now, Sheffield Wednesday are looking very strong and Dave Jones’ appointment had to be made with Mandaric absolutely certain that Jones could achieve promotion this season. Now in the final run-in, Wednesday look great money for promotion but for true success, Jones now has to be left alone by Mandaric. There can no interference on Mandaric’s part and only then will Sheffield Wednesday be allowed to flourish, it’s not as if the potential isn’t there.

Going from Sheffield to Manchester now, we can’t do anything but look at the Premiership title race, which yesterday, took another gigantic twist.

In Manchester, Wayne Rooney was commandeering Manchester United to a 2-0 victory over West Brom. Shown to have twenty attempts on goal and the lion’s share of possession, there was never anything but a Manchester United win on the cards here. Sir Alex Ferguson churns out team after team, all capable of securing results as they approach the season’s final stretch.

Over in Swansea, Manchester City were playing Swansea City, who so far this season, have lost just once at home and that, unsurprisingly, came against Manchester United. Swansea have beaten Arsenal and drew with Tottenham Hotspurs at home this season and have looked impressive all season long, so it was always a tough nut to crack for Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City side.

In comparison to Manchester United’s consummate, all-conquering victory over West Brom, Manchester City never looked capable of putting the game away from Swansea’s reach and for all the possession Manchester City boasted around Swansea’s penalty area, they found it tough to break Swansea down and whilst City looked for an opening at one end, they found that Swansea would go close as well just as fast.

Everything about Manchester City’s performance yesterday was too open and if Mancini allows that to happen just once more this season, then Manchester United have had the Premiership title dumped on their plate by their inner-city rivals.

Manchester City conceded late on yesterday through a Luke Moore header and never looked capable of responding to that goal with ten minutes still left to play.

Whilst Manchester City lost silly points, Manchester United picked theirs up with ease and that is the key difference between a club used to winning titles and one that, with respect, is alien to the sensation. Not in a millon years would Manchester United have lost to Swansea yesterday.

People can claim that Manchester United are lucky, that Sir Alex Ferguson is best mates with every referee on the FA’s rota but come on, take your head out of the sand for a second. Can anybody really say that SAF has been lucky in the league nineteen times? No, because nobody has that amount of luck, it’s all down to being a strong, intelligent person, one who knows how to manage expectations and capable of achieving results in the most high-pressure situations.

Manchester City aren’t fortunate enough to have a Manager capable of performing in those situations. Roberto Mancini is a fantastic Manager, don’t get me wrong. I personally think Mancini has done an immense job as City Manager, but he has never had to win a title like this. In Serie A it was maybe a little easier mentally, but competing for the Premiership is like living in a pressure cooker and Mancini is new to this sensation, whilst SAF seems to love habituating in high-pressure cooking pots and that, will be the difference to success this season.

Finally, I must finish with Leicester City and their troubles. Yesterday I round at Mat’s house and his computer was open on the Foxes Talk page, where I saw the headline, ‘Nigel Pearson, should he be sacked and who could replace him?’ Straight away, I was silently screaming, pleading for Leicester’s Thai owners to keep faith with Pearson.

I’ve said it many times on here before, and I’ll say it again: Leicester desperately familiarity to be successful. Stick with Nigel Pearson and Leicester will go up next season, if not this season. If yet another Leicester Manager bites the dust, then this season will be repeated for years and years until it clicks that sticking with the same Manager brings success. Obviously, I don’t mean appoint anybody, for example you couldn’t appoint Ronald McDonald and say that keep faith with him for two seasons and you’ll achieve guaranteed success, as that’s absolutely ludicrous.

Leicester City’s player turnover in the past few years goes over the fifty mark and that is far too much, considering the different Managers Leicester have employed in that period in Pearson, Paulo Souza, Sven Goran Eriksson and Nigel Pearson once more. One Manager a season is not healthy and until Leicester stick with one, it’ll be groundhog day for years to come. Leicester have the resources, the players and a very good Manager, but do they have a Chairman with substance between his ears?

That final question is my last input for this post, so I will see you in the comments…

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Craig in Championship, England, League One, Premiership Leave a comment

Man United & Man City Flop In Europe

Morning all!

I’m not one to show off. Honestly, I’m a very quiet guy who likes to keep himself to himself. However, I not only predicted Athletic Bilbao to beat Manchester United last night, I went as far as to back my beliefs and put £2 on it. After Fernando Llorente had scored for Bilbao, I then opted to bet for Bilbao as next scorers and again, I was proved correct when Oscar De Marcos scored. (even though he was four miles offside) Finally, to get rid of the remaining £1 on my Ladbrokes account, I bet on Bilbao to score again! Guess what? Iker Muniain scored a third!

As I said, I hate to show off, but clearly my ability to predict things with such ease should be lauded, so I’m going to shout about it all day. You will also be pleased to be reading this in the comfort of knowing I’m a football mastermind. Go to whichever blog you like, but it’ll rarely be this good!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXzjL9XJQE4

What I must admit to finding worrying, is that I’m confident enough to predict a team currently fifth in La Liga to beat Manchester United, second in the Premier League and current English Champions. There was something inevitable about Manchester United losing (again) in Europe and I can’t be the only one perplexed as to why Manchester United are seemingly unable to perform in Europe this season?

Despite winning the tie overall, Manchester United lost the second leg 2-1 to Ajax at Old Trafford and drew with both Benfica and FC Basle at home in the Champions League group stages. Never has it been so easy for teams to travel to Old Trafford and win in European competition.

Some may say that exiting European competition early is beneficial to United, though I struggle to see it that way. In no way, shape or form would Sir Alex Ferguson have wanted his team to exit the Champions League in the group stages. Having feature in three of the last four Champions League finals, the money made from getting there has been pivotal for United and to keep going as far as that is brilliant for United’s finances. As well as that, who wouldn’t want to win the Champions League?

Having now been demoted to the Europa League following their Champions League failure and third place finish in the group stages, Manchester United must look to compete in the Europa League for as long as possible.

For the past two seasons, Arsenal have found themselves out of all competitions for the final run-in of matches and favourites to win the league due to being able to focus on winning their remaining matches. That theory however, has been proved wrong and Arsenal have finished trophyless.

So, when a Manager states that it’s important to stay in all competitions for as long as possible to keep a winning momentum going, only to later retract those comments later in the season to say, ‘well now we are out of these competitions, it’ll benefit us in the long run as we can focus on winning the league’. Which of those two different statements do you believe in the most?

Competing in all competitions means you are constantly thinking about other things, never allowing your mind to settle. When the pressure intensifies during the final stages of the season, it’s important to be thinking about several different possibilities. For example, have you been set just one task at work? It becomes very dull, doesn’t it? When you focus on just one goal, it becomes monotonous and very tiring having to think about one thing. If given two goals to strive for however, you become motivated by the challenge of succeeding at both and that’s why it’s so important to stay competitive right until the end.

Whilst I’m pretty sure that Manchester United realise this, going out of the Europa League is something they cannot allow to happen. Another early exit could prove detrimental to United’s cause and they must remain competitive till the very end.

This however does not explain why Manchester United are flopping in Europe. Arsene Wenger believes it to be merely a mistake and whilst I’m inclined to agree there, I do also think Manchester United are still left with the same problems they had last season: Lack of a playmaker. Manchester United’s midfield is littered with wingers and work-horses in the middle, boasting no real creative force of note. There is of course Paul Scholes, but he isn’t the prolific force he was earlier in his career and United really do need a player dedicated to creating chances. I still think Manchester United missed the boat when they allowed Samir Nasri to join Manchester City. Nasri would have been a better fit at Old Trafford and would have been the focal point to all United attacks, something he would have relished.

Injuries in defence haven’t helped either but whilst United persist without a playmaker, they will struggle, especially in European competition where a player able to find pockets of space and make killer passes is vital to success.

As for Manchester City’s failures in Europe this season, well that’s pretty easy to explain. A group of players fairly new to each other will take time to gel, regardless of their seamless quality. In next season’s Champions League I believe City will be a potent force, but for this season, a feeling of unfamiliarity has cost City the chance to progress any further.

Whilst United will realise the importance of staying in the Europa League, (refer to Manchester United’s effort to score a second goal last night) I do believe that Manchester City see the Europa League as a mere distraction and I felt that to be very evident as they played Sporting Lisbon last night.

If Manchester City fail to realise the importance of staying competitive, then I fear they will come up short in the Premier League and that would be disastrous for Roberto Mancini. Whilst I don’t believe for a second he’d be sacked, I do believe that mentally, Manchester City would find it hard to mount another challenge similar to this one if they weren’t to win the league this time round.

That’s your lot for today, I’ll see you Monday!

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Craig in England, Europe, Premiership, Spain 2 Comments

Making Sense Of Saturday

Morning all!

Honestly, I’ve never digested so many opinions relating to one subject. In regards to ‘Suevra-gate’, I’m amazed just how many varying definitions of right and wrong are appearing, when really, there should be one unifying voice on what happened.

So, what precisely did happen? Well, you have to travel back in time to Saturday 15th October, the day that Liverpool hosted Manchester United at Anfield in a 1-1 draw. During the match, there was an altercation between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra, which at the time, was nothing to raise any eyebrows as both are pretty hostile personalities, though after the final whistle, that altercation transpired to carry a lot more meaning than it had first appeared. Talking to Canal Plus straight after the match, Patrice Evra told the French news station that: ‘There are cameras, you can see him (Suarez) say a certain word to me at least ten times’.

Players’ Union chief, Gordon Tayor, acted as mediator during the whole process, as Evra and Suarez went to trial over Evra’s claims against Suarez. To cut a long story short, Luis Suarez was found guilty after the evidence proved substantial enough to ban the Uruguayan for eight matches and fine Suarez £40,000, which, if found guilty of racism, is a very fair punishment. Liverpool denied themselves the opportunity to contest the verdict, much to the confusion of everybody after Kenny Dalglish had supported Luis Suarez so strongly in the media.

In Suarez’s second match back after his eight match ban, he was set to face Manchester United at Old Trafford in what promised to be a cauldron of hate and bile, all directed at Suarez. With such attention being focused on the game, Police out in great numbers to counter any trouble on the day and emotions clearly running at a premium for all players involved, it was pivotal that the relationship between Suarez and Evra was played down, which meant shaking hands before the game with no trouble.

In a move that must have had PR official ands Police around the ground shaking their head’s in total disbelief, Suarez refused to accept Evra’s handshake, leading to an aggravated reaction from Evra, who proceded to grab Suarez by his forearm, clearly outraged at being snubbed by Suarez. In turn, Rio Ferdinand refused to shake Suarez’s hand, a petty move with nothing really made of it, but the damage had been done just seconds before. Suarez’s refusal to shake Evra’s hand had lit fireworks within Evra’s emotions. Having been found guilty and served his punishment, this was a chance for Suarez to bury everything that had happened, but no, Suarez aggravated a crowd of nearly 75,000.

In that moment, Suarez had sent Evra into a frenzy and within minutes, Suarez found himself in space. In Rio Ferdinand’s zone of the field, Ferdinand stepped up to challenge Suarez and deny him time to work with the ball. Patrice Evra, a left-back, came nearly twenty yards out of position to confront Suarez in a challenge. Normally, you wouldn’t see Evra make the decision, as if Glen Johnson had gambled and pushed further forward, Suarez could have poked a ball into the area vacated by Evra, presenting Johnson with a fantastic opportunity to punish Manchester United. Although that wasn’t the case, it showed that Evra wasn’t thinking straight, he was, at this point, incapable of making the right decision and as a result of this, Ferdinand, who had got in front of Suarez, was caught in a sandwich between the Uruguayan and Evra, sending Ferdinand up in the air, thus landing on his air. Ferdinand could have broken his neck and this chain of events had stemmed from Suarez’s refusal to shake hands.

Would Evra normally rush into such a challenge, miles away from where he should be? No. If the two had shook hands, you have to say that the afternoon would have been defused, but this was not the case and that challenge was just one of a chain of events to take place.

Late in the first half, Suarez found himself in space, having drifted past Evra with ease (who for some reason, had vacated left-back and was occupying a position on the right side of midfield, a clear sign the Frenchman had vacated his normal professionalism) and having also gone past Ferdinand, was about to bare down on goal, when Ferdinand extended his right leg to take the ball away from Suarez. Suarez went down as a result of the challenge and went apoplectic at the decision not to whistle for a foul.

Now clearly aggravated, Dalglish left his seat to stand in his techincal area, pleading with his star striker to calm down. On the half time whistle, Suarez was in possession of the ball and clearly still angry from Ferdinand’s challenge, (which by the way, was a very good tackle) Suarez booted the ball into the advertising hoardings, leading to confrontations between Liverpool and United players on the pitch, which reportedly carried on into the tunnel.

In the second half, Manchester United took a two goal lead early on courtesy of a Wayne Rooney brace and despite those two goals, the game had been going at a snail’s pace, with the game played at walking pace for much of the ninety minutes. Were the players of both teams aware of the provocative nature of this particular match? You got the impression both sides wanted this done and dusted with, without any drama, such was the way it was being played. Liverpool in particular never looked capable of scoring, until an indirect free kick hit Ferdinand in the six yard box and fell to Suez, who wan’t going to miss, making it 2-1 to Manchester United with only ten minutes left.

Despite having scored, Liverpool still couldn’t push on for an equaliser and to be honest, I never expected them to. Manchester United looked very organised and Liverpool seemed very flat. As I mentioned previously, it seemed as if everybody wanted the game over, not wanting any more controversy to dominate their lives.

At the final whistle, with Manchester United having emerged 2-1 winners, controversy reared its ugly head once more. Patrice Evra, who had performed very well in the second half, having obviously been told to calm down at half time, erupted into raw emotion at United’s win, gesticulating to the United crowd his joy at winning and in a highly idiotic act, Evra opted to celebrate widly in front of the Stretford End, following Luis Suarez as he walked to the tunnel. In this action, the tables were turned and it was Evra acting the villain in the eyes of the watching millions and Suarez the ‘hero’ as he ignored Evra’s celebrations in a very dignified manner and for that, Suarez does deserve a little credit, despite not having exactly showered himself in glory throughout the afternoon.

Evra wasn’t allowed to celebrate for too long before Phil Down and his assistants stepped in to put a halt to Evra’s celebrations. Players from both teams started to step in, sparking ugly scenes when what was needed, was a quiet exit into the dressing room. Rafael and Danny Welbeck must also be mentioned for their provocative behaviour, also gesticulating toward the United crowd. They, nor Evra should have done that, it was inflammatory and they should not have been doing that just moments before the thousands of fans left to walk the streets home.

Trying to draw consequences from an afternoon consisting of high emotion is always hard. Fans of neither Liverpool or Manchester United are going to have an easy time justfying the actions of their players. Can Liverpool fans justify a reason as to why Luis Suarez didn’t shake Evra’s hand? No, as Suarez lit the torch paper when a handshake was needed, you can’t say Suarez was ‘right’ for doing what he did. As for Manchester United fans, well I understand why Patrice Evra started celebrating wildly in front of Suarez; Evra had been built up to a point of frenzy by what had preceded that moment, so I do understand why he did it, but that doesn’t go any lengths of justifying what Evra did. Evra’s actions were inflammatory and provocative, making a complete mockery of the care undergone by both parties to try and play down the situation.

For the most part of yesterday, both teams behaved impeccably and I was most impressed with Jay Spearing. The 23 year old has had to bide his time to make a mark on Liverpool’s first team and Spearing showed just why he’s worth a starting place in Dalglish’s first XI with a performancy belying his years. Spearing handled the occassion with great maturity and though he was at fault for United’s scond goal, these things happen throughout a player’s career and yesterday, that small moment aside, Spearing was very impressive. For Manchester United, Jonny Evans was immense, showing a great technique when on the ball, something I didn’t know he had within him. I prefer brains over brawn when it comes to defending, so it’s always a pleasure to see a central defender capable of making clever passes when under pressure and Evans was a delight to watch yesterday.

That I’ve had to type 1540 words before mentioning the quality performances of other players is a massive shame and indicative of an afternoon dominated by the actions of other players.

To put an end to a row which can now only escalate, a summit has to be held between both Liverpool and Manchester United, with Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra present. We can’t allow the English game to be dominated by something so ugly as racism, this is the 21st century, we’re not neanderthals and we should know better.

Neither Luiz Suarez or Patrice Evra left yesterday’s match with a shred of respect, both acted irresponsibly when it was calm that was needed.

Hopefully the next time these two great clubs play, we’re talking purely about the football.

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment