Chelsea Bid AVB Adieu

Good morning all!

I’m going to dive into things this morning rather than start off with a pretty interlude as we have a lot to get through this morning, starting with Tottenham Hotspurs’ recent collapse, confounded yesterday by Manchester United.

Despite having been much the stronger team offensively, it was Manchester United won prevailed 3-1. How Tottenham can lose by such a score despite having three times the number of shots to Manchester United eludes the minds of many this morning. Should a team lose 3-1 despite having eighteen attempts on goal? No. Theoretically, Spurs should have battered a Manchester United team which only managed six shots all match.

The key to Manchester United’s win, was being clinical with the six shots they did manage, five of which were on target. Despite having been run ragged by Spurs for the entire first half, Spurs conceded to Manchester United in the 45th minute when Wayne Rooney headed home from a corner.

Within fifteen minutes of the second half, Spurs found themselves two down, then nine minutes later, three down. Despite such a clear dominancy in the favour of Spurs, they were 3-0 down.

A North London club out-playing Manchester United sounds all too familiar. Spurs’ rivals, Arsenal, suffer from a similar defficiency and whilst Arsenal teams over the past few years have been regarded as average compared to teams of the past, it must be a worrying admission for Spurs fans that their best team for fifty years, is barely as good as the more average Arsenal teams.

I read in The Times this morning that this season, Harry Redknapp has seen his charges concede six goals to Arsenal, (over two games) eight to Manchester City and another eight to Manchester United.

Whilst the press do indeed admire Harry Redknapp’s bold style of, ‘beautiful football and lots of goal’, his team are vulnerable at the back, naive in how they defend and more importantly, bare a mental block as to how good they are.

I don’t see such a trend changing either, as although Redknapp is a fantastic motivator of men, he has himself admitted he’s not the best tactician, rather favouring the power of his attack, speed and directness within his starting to XI to pin back opposition. This is a tactic which does indeed work, though only against teams not able to boast a high calibre attack and that’s not a theory, but indeed a fact which is backed by the fact Spurs have conceded twenty-two goals to three of the league’s top teams.

Spurs’ next three fixtures see them travel to Everton, host Stoke City and then travel away to Chelsea, which is a very tricky run of fixtures.

Redknapp made the highly worrying statement that he’d now ‘settle for fourth’, despite having harboured ambitions for the title, declaring Spurs could indeed win the damned thing just two months ago. Spur’s flirtation with such an ambition has been all too brief for a team lauded as Spurs’ ‘best for fifty years’, lasting just two months and now, after such an effort to reach the position they currenty hold, Spurs are embroiled in a battle for third with an Arsenal side lauded as the ‘worst in fifteen years’.

I’ve said it before, but being dragged through the press as a great team and superior to Arsenal, only to be potentially overtaken in the league, despite such ‘superiority’ is disheartening, as much as it would be for Manchester City and in both cases, I’d expect Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspurs to suffer next season if they don’t finish above their respective rivals this season, despite both being described as the greatest teams to represent their clubs in some time.

This brings us nicely on to Manchester United, who having beat Spurs, now remain just two points behind league leaders, Manchester City.

In Roberto Mancini’s post-match interview following his side’s consummate 2-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers, the BBC journalist interviewing Mancini stated, ‘five points clear now and and equalling Manchester United’s record…’. This was a statement cut short by Roberto Mancini as he replied, ‘no, two, as Manchester United will win tomorrow’.

I find that statement highly intriguing as you can disect it into little parts and really pick it apart before you find the meaning behind Mancini’s words. What Mancini said echoes of the mind games previously enjoyed between Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. Mancini was undoubtedly trying to put pressure on to Manchester United but at the same time, it was an acceptance of Manchester United’s tenacity and attitude in that they will never relent from chasing Manchester City and as the Match of the Day commentator said of Mancini in the match, ‘he looks a tired man’. Largely, this has to be attributed to the title race and the pressure being applied by Manchester United. Mancini’s statement of Manchester United beating Spurs was one of acceptance that this battle will end only when these two sides meet in April.

Manchester United’s victory over Tottenham Hotspurs yesterday was clinical and bore the ruthlessness displayed by a killer Whale trying to capture it’s prey.

Like the ‘Type B Orca Whale’ shown in the video to ruthfully kill it’s target, Manchester United beat opponents with precision, not outrageous shows of skill. Ashley Young’s curling effort put aside, United got two of their three goals from a corner and a throw-in. Whilst United are indeed capable of the outrageous, they similarly know had to pull off the simple things to superb effect. Spurs shouldn’t be losing goals to corners a throw-in at this stage of the season.

Such was the precision of Manchester United yesterday against Tottenham yesterday equates to Roberto Mancini enduring many sleepless nights until this season reaches it’s dramatic climax.

Finally, we must pay homage to Chelsea’a now ex-34 year old Manager, Andre Villas Boas, who was sacked at precisely 12.45pm yesterday, as the match between Newcastle United and Sunderland was played.

Whilst I’m not surprised in the slightest by AVB’s dismissal, I am disappointed that Roman Abramovich has pulled his trigger finger once again and has denied Chelsea, once again, the security of a long term vision.

Six Managers in five years is a devastating account of just how dangerous it is to be employed by Roman Abramovich and a sign that mere promise is not tolerated at Stamford Bridge. I can’t help but feel Chelsea are really relying on Champions League money to meet the FFP rules and that Abramovich has acted on Chelsea’s poor results to try and meet the problem of Chelsea not qualifying for the Champions League and thus being £30 million out of pocket.

It’s not AVB’s fault that Chelsea are reliant on this money and if good decisions had been made at the beginning of Abramovich’s reign, then not qualifying for the Champions League could be tolerated for maybe a season or two whilst the club finds it’s feet during transition.

A constant sacking of Manager’s is ultimately very harmful for a club and Abramovich’s man-handling of Chelsea must stop before they dig a hole so deep, it’s impossible to get out of.

That’s all from me today, I’ll see you in the comments…

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Posted on March 5, 2012 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

Good Week / Bad Week. Sunderland Beat Arsenal, Leicester Defeat Norwich & Stevenage Hold Spurs

Good Week

Stevenage Borough

Drawing 0-0 with a team placed third in the Barclay’s Premier League is always a good achievement for a Championship team, never mind one fighting for a play-off spot in League One. Stevenage are enjoying a pretty good season in League One and currently sit 6th in the league, with two games in hand on most teams around them, apart from Sheffield Wednesday, who they have four games in hand on. Clearly, Stevenage hold a pretty enviable position in League One and could soon overhaul third place Sheffield Wednesday once Stevenage have caught up with their fixtures.

Despite such a good position being held in League One, it’s normally the case that when a Premiership team plays a side from a lower league, the lower league side will match their Premiership opponents for around an hour through sheer willpower and organisation. After that 60 minute mark, extra fitness and quality shows, meaning that more often than not, the Premiership team will dominate the final half an hour and claim victory.

For Stevenage, this wasn’t such a problem. In midfield, Luke Freeman looked brilliant on the ball, doing all the simple things to help Stevenage keep the ball. Freeman looked great in Arsenal’s reserves, I always liked him when I saw him play for the reserves, so I’m perplexed as to why exactly Arsenal let him go on a permanent transfer after yesterday’s showing from Freeman. All over the pitch, Stevenage seemed able to draw up a little bit of quality to help them through against Spurs and they’ll need to call upon it again in midweek for the replay at White Hart Lane.

Leicester City

The last two results in Leicester City’s fixture list illustrates Leicester’s season perfectly. A 3-2 defeat by the hands of Watford lead to my eternally optimistic Leicester City supporting friend claim ‘their season is over’ after what truly was an awful result for a team wanting to get promotion. If Leicester had won, they’d now be on 45 points, just 6 points off a promotion place, which is truly frustrating when you look at the potential Leicester City possess.

Players such as David Nugent, Jermaine Beckford, Matt Mills, Kasper Schmeichel, Andy King, Richie Wellens and the rest look, on paper, like a Premiership team. If that side was to be playing in the Premiership, they’d be in the top half. For certain, Leicester (again, on paper) have a better team than Stoke City for example.

So why are’t Leicester not higher up the table? Simply, it’s because of a ridiculous amount of players coming and going at the Walkers Stadium over the past three or four years, as well as Managers. Leicester have such a high turnover of playing staff and backroom staff, as well as management, that it’s hard to create a single vision for Leicester to strive toward. Even if it’s universally accepted at the club that promotion is always the target, it becomes equally hard to achieve that when the staff trying to achieve that goal is continually changing.

This is a criticsm, but mainly born out of frustration because I know how good Leicester can be, I know how big the club is and if Nigel Pearson is to keep everything together, Leicester will go a long way.

However for all the Watford results that come Leicester’s way, there is still an obvious abundance in quality and when Leicester do strike a chord, they can sweep most teams out of their way, in particular, a strong Norwich City side who have done very well in the Premiership this season. If Leicester continue Saturday into the rest of their matches this season, the Foxes could make a real push for the play-offs and finally achieve their goal of promotion. (though I personally feel they’re best having another season in the Championship to gel)

Sunderland

Martin O’Neill is some sort of miracle worker. We’re not talking small miracles here, I mean large miracles to the scale of turning the atmosphere of a whole club around and bringing them to the cusp of a Wembley appearance if Sunderland are to beat Everton in the FA Cup Quater Finals. O’Neill (MON) has started to get the best out of players who looked as if their careers were stagnating and that’s not down to any voodoo Doctor, but thanks to MON’s ability to get the best out a player by using the best motivation techniques.

Sunderland’s performance against Arsenal on Saturday was typical of a MON side, fighting to the last to ensure a win was secured. It wasn’t a ‘pretty’ performance from Sunderland and nor did the Mackems dominate, they realised they couldn’t compete openly with Arsenal, so stuck to a plan and carried it out to perfection.

A tactical master as well as a magician of a motivator, MON could well carry what were an infuriating Sunderland side to the next level.

Bad Week

Arsenal

If a 4-0 loss against an AC Milan side still in transition under Massimiliano Allegri (no idea if I spelt that right!) wasn’t bad enough for Arsenal, a result which effectively knocks them out of the Champions League then a 2-0 loss to Sunderland in the FA Cup, Arsenal’s only realistic chance of winning any silverware, is truly the stuff made of disasters.

Against Arsenal, Milan’s defence must have been laughing as they claimed the entire Arsenal side in their back pocket. Despite the Lion’s share of possession against Milan, Arsenal were woeful in the final third and looked awfully short of any initiative. Any initiative was provided by a 34 year old Thierry Henry (who has now returned to New York Red Bulls) and an isolated Robin Van Persie. This was imitated against Sunderland, where again, Arsenal just looked shorn of any clue as to how to break teams down.

It’s been a painful week for me, so I don’t wish to digest both games against AC Milan and Sunderland, but I do wish to share with you just why Arsenal are suddenly so painstakingly shit. Having sold both Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri in the summer, Arsenal have replaced two world class midfielders with Aaron Ramsey and Gervinho.

First and foremost, I must say I think both Ramsey and Gervinho are good players. What they are not, however, are ready made replacements for two quality midfielders. Ramsey for example is still young and at that, a year behind in his development and being asked to perform in the Fabregas role serves as brutal punishment. Ramsey is doing the hardest job at Arsenal and that is to keep things ticking over, which can’t be done with a player still learning his trade, whipping Ramsey in this role will only damage him and Arsenal either need Wilshere back, or another midfielder of a truly world class stature to be able to perform in the hole vacated by Fabregas to get Arsenal tickin again.

As for Gervinho, he’s already made more assists than Samir Nasri did in his entire Arsenal career. Gervinho however is an out and out winger unlike Nasri, whose preference was to come inside, meaning Arsenal have now adopted a new style reliant on pacy wingers, rather than playing with dedicated playmakers on the wing. With Gervinho still adapting to the English game, there will be inconsistencies in Gervinho’s performances and it’s this constant period of transition in Arsenal’s teams since 2005 which is killing the club’s chances of silverware.

There is one person responsible for this and that is Arsene Wenger. That story however, remains untouched for another article…

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Posted on February 20, 2012 by Craig in Championship, England, League One, Premiership Leave a comment

Good Week / Bad Week

Good Week

Tottenham Hotspurs

My prediction for the clash between Spurs and Newcastle, was one of a ‘tight match, in which Spurs would win, maybe by a single goal’. After 45 minutes, I was getting ready to sell this blog and give my opinions on cooking, after Spurs took a four goal lead.

Four goals up against a club from North London? It all sounds very familiar and it indeed it does, as Arsenal found themselves 3-0 up after just ten minutes at St James’ Park last season, going 4-0 up on 26 minutes and you feared the worst for Newcastle that day. That however, was not the case, as Newcastle produced an incredible come back to earn a 4-4 draw, which had yours truly drinking as much alcohol as he could that night to banish the memory.

Whilst I will say there were mitigating factors that day as to how Newcastle managed to draw parity in the game; such as Abou Diaby being sent off and Sebastian Squillaci coming on for Djourou in the 48th minute, there was no excuse. Spurs on the other hand, have managed to mix their attacking prowess together with being solid at the back. Though Spurs didn’t really have their defence tested, they controlled the game and it was embarrassing to watch Newcastle try and play keep-up with a Spurs side who had their eye on more than just four goals after half time.

Though Spurs only scored once more in the second half, you got the feeling that if they wanted to, Spurs could have gone into double figures had they fancied it. Out of a sign of respect, maybe Harry Redknapp told them to drop off a bit? Either way, it was a magnificent win against one of the leagues form sides, keeping them in touch with the top two.

Spur’s next league match? Arsenal away. Expect fireworks.

Arsenal

The loan signing of Thierry Henry was seen as a masterstroke from the Arsenal PR Office. Building a statue of the legend that is Thierry Henry, only to re-sign the Frenchman just weeks later, was always going to put extra bums on seats and sell a few shirts and other memorabilia. For example, against Aston Villa, his second home match back, I’d slumped into some sort of frenzy, buying my little Brother an Arsenal shirt with his name on the back, a mug and a fridge magnet with his face on. I wasn’t the only one buying Arsenal shirts printed with ‘Henry’, either.

Whilst nobody doubted the value of bringing back a legend when it came to public relations and selling merchandise, there was a worry as to how a 34 year old could come back to Arsenal and still produce the form that saw Henry score 226 goals in the red of Arsenal. Those external to the Arsenal support, saw it as a desperate move, that Arsene Wenger was slowly losing it.

Whilst there was no doubt of what Henry could add to the dressing room, there was a slight doubt as to how well hed perform on the pitch. Within nine minutes of being on the pitch against Leeds United in the FA Cup, Thierry Henry had worked himself the room to score Arsenal’s winner in a 1-0 victory over the Championship side. It was an astounding moment which had Arsenal fans into a state of delirium, I’ve never known the Emirates to be so full of love for one man after the match, with pats on the back and people sharing Henry stories everywhere you went after the game.

In Henry’s short loan spell, which is set to end on Wednesday in the Champions League against AC Milan - in the Colosseum which is the San Siro, the perfect arena in which an Arsenal legend can call it a day – the Frenchman has scored three goals, with two of those the winning goal in a match, one being against Leeds and the other coming against Sunderland on Saturday.

Andrey Arshavin’s cross was measured to perfection for Henry to score from close range. Credit has to go in the direction of Arshavin, whose assist hopefully marks the end of a torrid time for the Russian. Arshavin made the goal, but it was Henry who got the plaudits, naturally!

Borussia Dortmund

A Shinji Kagawa goal on the stroke of half time gave Die Borussen a 1-0 win in an evenly contested encounter over 6th placed Bayer Leverkusen. This victory keeps Dortmund top of the Bundesliga, two points ahead of second placed Bayern Munich. It’s a great achievement for Jurgen Klopp’s side to be where they are when it’s taken into consideration just how poor a start Dortmund got off to this season.

Everton

The most frustrating side in the Premiership continue to show up in the second half of the season, having typically endured an indifferent first half of a season.

If Everton were to have a good, consistent season, they could challenge for the Champions League, but they continually let themselves down in the opening period of a Premiership season, ruining any chance of competing for anything other than a Europa League spot.

That frustration aside, Everton are always capable of beating big teams and have done so previously, beating Manchester City 1-0 last week at Goodison Park. On Saturday, Everton strolled to a comfortable 2-0 win over Chelsea, with Steven Pienaar Everton’s man of the match. If Everton were to replicate this form consistently, they could achieve anything, but as this annual slump happens at the beginning of a new season, you have to ask, is David Moyes not giving his players the correct preparation?

Bad Week

Liverpool

Having been dragged through the mud over the past few months, the name of Liverpool Football Club was once against brought under scrutiny as controversy overshadowed what should have been a great game of football between the countries two biggest rivals.

Luis Suarez’s refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra set off a chain reaction of events which lead to a controversial ultimatum in which Patrice Evra sparked ugly scenes through his wild celebrations toward the United fans, just yards away from the protagonist of the whole afternoon. Since that afternoon - in which Kenny Dalglish did himself no favours as Liverpool manager, acting angrily towards Geoff Shreeves during an interview – Liverpool have issued a statement of apology, which Manchester United received with good grace on their official website, citing the great history and unparalleled rivalry between the two clubs.

As well as those ugly scenes, Liverpool were very poor on the day, offering no attacking threat in response to Wayne Rooney’s brace which presented Manchester United an early 2-0 lead in the second half.

Sheffield Wednesday

Losing to Exeter City is poor enough, a side 18th in League One should be getting swept aside by a team second in the league, but as has often been the case this season, despite Wednesday’s lofty position in the table, Gary Megson’s side have continually shot themselves in the foot.

Sheffield Wednesday have played 30 matches so far this season, an amount only equalled by Bournemouth, Wycombe and Exeter in League One. There is a twelve point gap between Sheffield Wednesday in second, on 57 points and Carlisle, placed seventh in the league, out of the play-off positions. Carlisle have three games in hand on Wednesday, so it’s not totally unthinkable that Wednesday could yet drop out of the play-offs. Gary Megson needs to shape his men up, and fast. These slip-ups could prove costly when the teams surrounding them play their games in hand and it’s pivotal Wednesday stop the continuation of silly results.

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Craig in England, Europe, Germany, League One, Premiership Leave a comment

Transfer Madness!

Good morning!

Last year, we saw Liverpool fork out £35 million for Andy Carroll and Chelsea splurge £50 million on an out of form, Fernando Torres. These are just two examples of baffling transfers. Whilst I agree Torres is a great striker andjustwhat Chelsea needed, £50 million is a bit much whereas Andy Carroll… Leave it there.

This transfer window however, it’s Tottenham Hotspurs that baffle me, having signed Louis Saha (33) and Ryan Nelsen (34) to remedy the departures of Roman Pavlyuchenko and Sebastien Bassong. Both troubled with injury problems over their careers, I’m struggling to see how letting two young, better conditioned players go and replacing them with older models is good practice for Spurs?

Ryan Nelsen for example, has managed just the one game at Blackburn this season and you have to ask the question, ‘would Nelsen get in Blackburn’s team?’ my answer is no, he wouldn’t, I believe Blackburn moved on from Nelsen a long time ago. Chris Samba, so desperate to escape Blackburn, would have made for a better option for Spurs and I know I keep saying it, but I really cannot get my head around Tottenham Hotspurs signing Ryan Nelsen.

Louis Saha is a player equally as baffling, if not more. In eighteen appearances for Everton this season, Saha has yielded a goal, nothing more, not even an assist. The season before this, Saha is shown to have scored seven in twenty-two, yet another dismal goals to games ratio. Whilst Pavlyuchenko is barely as prolific as Saha, he is at least free from injury and three years younger. Astounding.

In more news, Steven Pienaar left Spurs to re-join Everton having ultimately flopped at White Hart Lane, with Everton also announcing the signing of Nikica Jelavic at half-time, presenting their £6.5 million capture from Rangers on the pitch at half-time. Pienaar back to Everton is a good move for David Moyes and will give Everton some much needed craft to their game. Jelavic on the other hand is a player coming straight from the SPL and for that reason alone I have my reservations about him. I’m not entirely convinced Jelavic will be a hit, Moyes isn’t the greatest judge of strikers and my instinct points toward Jelavic being a flop on Merseyside.

Despite a few flutters in this January’s transfer window, things have generally been quiet, with only £80 million spent on transfers, compared a staggering £225 million last January. The main reason for that FIFA’s new Financial Fair Play rule, which requires clubs to balance their books, meaning speculative transfersare out of the window, unless you’re Tony Fernandes and don’t have a clue as to how a football club is managed. I’d really love to know how a club as small as QPR, with a lower average attendance than Wigan, can afford Djibril Cisse, Nedum Onuoha and Taye Taiwo (wages) despite having such a low turnover. I actually put forward this question to Tony Fernandes on Twitter and get sweet nothing in response, the ignorant bastard.

Fernandes is speculating to accumulate, which is okay if you’re building a stadium etc, though not okay if you’re speculating on transfer fees and wages, knowing you’ll never get a return on your money. I think Fernandes enjoys the glamour of being in football a bit too much and honestly, should stick to playing model airplanes or whatever it is he does.

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

Spurs 1-1 Chelsea

Morning!

Well, today’s title says it all, ‘Spurs and Chelsea drew’. As for title aspirations, this is a result neither side wanted. A point tonight has brought Arsenal within a point of Chelsea and three of Spurs, who do have a game in hand, but all the same, Harry Redknapp won’t be happy Arsenal have closed the gap now.

Both Chelsea and Spurs however, won’t be looking over their shoulder, but more at the chasm developing between them and both Manchester clubs. Two very comfortable wins over Fulham and Stoke City respectively meant Manchester City and United stretched their respective goal differences to thirty-eight and twenty-eight. Spurs hold a goal difference of plus thirteen and Chelsea plus fifteen, a pretty big chasm (my favourite word of today) is appearing between the leaders and chasing pack, so three points for either side was crucial.

Adebayor opened the scoring, his eighth goal in thirteen games. Add Adebayor’s five assists to those goals and you see that the big Togan has directly contributed (in theory) to a goal every game. Fans of Arsenal and Manchester City would have been forgiven for laughing when Spurs signed Adebayor, as he’s consistently let down every club he’s played for. Despite good starts to both his Arsenal and City careers, Adebayor’s form always seemed to tail off, none more so than when at Eastlands where after a few good months, Adebayor’s form dipped and he never recovered it. There is no doubting his talent, but you do have to bring his mentality into question, so it will be interesting for the football world to see if Adebayor can step it up as the season progresses. If Adebayor proves he can step it up, then Spurs have a great striker on their hands, if not, then Redknapp will be looking at a Summer of trying to sign a top quality striker, which is hard to do when money is limited. To sign a top striker, you feel that Daniel Levy will demand some of the wage budget is trimmed before a hunt for a striker is made, so it will be interesting to see what happens there.

As for the provider of Adebayor’s assist, Gareth Bale, he’s even better now than last year, which is natural as he’s only 22. When I talk about players, I say that statistics don’t really count towards telling how good a player is until they are 22, which is the age when they grow into men and really start to stamp their authority on games. Only the unbelievable players, such as Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo achieve great numbers at a young age, so the fact that Gareth Bale already has five goals and four assists this campaign suggests this is a player who could have the World at his feet. Last season, Bale scored seven and assisted one, which in all honestly was poor from a man who gets at the opposition so much.

As I said however, stats at age 21 do not matter, it’s learning your game and that last season’s player of the year has already beaten his ‘productivity tally’ just seventeen games into the season is scary.

As for Chelsea, well as I said in pre-season, they’re going through a transition period so I’m not really expecting great things to happen at the Bridge this season.

What Chelsea fans have to realise, is that there is a project going on and at times, they will experience really poor results like a draw away to Wigan, as they will equally experience good performances against Manchester City. Frank Lampard is being edged out for the more diplomatic Oriol Romeu, a player I’m a massive fan of and Mata is now the creative hub of the team, rather than a midfield trio of energetic athletes such as Mikel, Essien and Lampard.

Transition or not, Chelsea still had a match to win and as transitions go, Chelsea looked pretty dis-jointed in areas agasint Spurs, most notably when they reached the final third. A lot of Chelsea’s play was telegraphed and as a result of Chelsea’s defence being pretty solid, the match ended in stalemate thanks to Daniel Sturridge’s goal following an Ashley Cole cross (it wasn’t a handball from Cole, by the way) in the first half.

That’s all from me today, Christmas is nearly here!

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Posted on December 23, 2011 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

Spurs Lost / I Got Wet / RVP Scored the Best Goal Ever

Morning!

I loved my weekend. Arsenal won, Robin Van Persie scored the best goal ever to be seen throughout history, Spurs lost and I got to play football. Admittedly I did get horribly wet concerning the final point.

To me, a Tottenham Hotspurs loss tastes just as nice as three points to Arsenal. What I will say though, is that the reason I like Spurs losing so much now, is because they are now a threat, a genuine, annoying threat. In times gone by, a Spurs defeat was something to giggle at, though not really relevant (for the majority, there have been exceptions) to what Arsenal have been trying to do. Now however, Spurs are a real threat, a club who you could say, share the same ambitions as Arsenal.

I still maintain the two clubs remain world’s apart. Spurs will need to risk a lot, invest mega-money and curb their current ambitions for quite a while to play catch up. This isn’t an Arsenal fan being a little bitter over Spurs’ rise to be a real, ‘noisy neighbour’, but a genuine, truthful observation as a football writer, that Arsenal are bigger than Spurs. What I will also maintain, is that Daniel Levy has done an amazing job to fund this Spurs side and take them to the heights they currently reach on the pitch. Michael Carrick sold to Manchester United for £20 million, Dimitar Berbatov sold for £30 million to the same club show a very effective method of utilising transfer funds. Buying players at a young age, complete with potential to command a higher transfer fee in the future is something that has worked well for Spurs.

If you look at the current starting XI down at White Hart Lane, the likes of Gareth Bale, Kyle Walker, Luka Modric, Sandro and Tom Huddlestone (if he stays fit and picks up his development) could pick up mega money for Spurs and while we don’t like to see our best players leave, it is inevitable it’ll happen and everybody is replacement. For example, there was a time when I imagined Manchester United would be nothing without Ruud Van Nistelrooy and I don’t consider United to have done too bad since then?

Now, I can’t actually vouch on an opinion for Spurs’ defeat to Stoke, as I only watched the first half. Next up for Spurs is Sunderland at home, a potential banana skin now Sunderland have a new manager (and a win) and as such, will be on a mini-honeymoon period. I do feel Spurs will hold too much quality in their deck of cards for Sunderland to contend with, but all the same, it’ll be a good of test of Spurs’ ‘bouncebackability’, (who actually invented that phrase? it’s bloody ridiculous. I feel dirty for using it) as will be a home match to Chelsea on the 22nd.

In more news, probably irrelevant to you, I played another match for my new Sunday league team. It’s safe to say ‘Tibshelf White Hart’ (TWH) haven’t had the greatest start this season, seen as though we currently prop the league table. Now, I’m only just getting to know the team and how they play, but what is obvious, in training at least, is that everybody is more then able with a ball at their feet, even the bigger guys are good with a ball.

So what causes confusion in my mind, is as to why we can’t keep the ball for longer than twelve seconds! What it really boils down to, is the team psychologically not able to take their confidence from training, to a football pitch. It’s not as if intensity is lacking in training, I’ve been able to sharpen up quicker than I expected purely because you will get bollocked for not making a run, or playing a silly pass. There is no reason for why we can’t pass the ball about against teams not as talented as us. If we were to put our training form on to a pitch, we’d win every match 7-0. Teams at Sunday league level are not good enough to keep focused for ninety minutes and will make mistakes.

Rather than a reasoned analysis of a match, this has turned into a rant. Why? Because seeing good players in poor form is something I hate, especially when those players aren’t doing the basics. I’m not saying I’m Robin Van Persie myself, I came on, played two mis-placed passes and my afternoon was done. (the referee called time about fifteen minutes early due to the pitch) What I do know however, is that I can do far better than that, and that everybody I play with can manage far better.

To aide it, I’d like the ball played out from the back, rather than kicked long. Past defence it’s not a very tall side, more a technically based one, filled with smaller, average height players, not eleven John Carew’s. As well as that, our striker, maybe our best player, is not good at heading, so the ball continually comes back at the defence. If we were to play through defence and midfield, build the pressure and play to our striker’s feet, we’d do better as far as I’m concerned.

That’s all from me today. I got wet yesterday and was very cold on a Sunday afternoon, something maybe reflected in the post. Either way, you all love it.

Oh, silly me! I almost forgot! Robin Van Persie, I donate my future children for you as chimney sweeps, you bloody brilliant man…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90PnsPE_1xQ

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Posted on December 12, 2011 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

Good Week / Bad Week

Good Week

Arsenal

Now a regular fixture in the ‘Good Week’ section after an atrocious start to the campaign, Arsenal are brushing teams aside without ever really needing to break past second gear. After two bad results on the bounce away to Wigan – a 3-2 loss and 2-2 draw – Arsene Wenger must be delighted with how easy his newly-assembled Arsenal XI brushed Wigan aside with consumate ease.

It has been noted by a few that Arsenal have played ‘nobody’ during their current fine run and that we’re yet to see whether they can cope with better quality. The thing is, Arsenal were brilliant against the big teams last season, yet so, so poor against weakers teams such as Wigan so there is improvement in that aspect. Arsenal are now focused when it comes to travelling away to cold and wet, Wigan, confident of getting three points.

Next weekend for Arsenal, is a home match to Everton, a fixture which will provide far sterner opposition than that offered by Wigan Athletic. All the same, even that potential bogey fixture looks a given. Things are looking up for Arsenal!

Tottenham Hotspurs

Whilst things are looking great for Arsenal, things are going just as well for their close rivals. Another win (ten in eleven, I think?) takes Harry Redknapp’s side up to what must be a nauseating (for Spurs, anyway, as an Arsenal fan I’m pretty used to such positions by now) third place in the league table.

In four of their last five matches, Spurs have brushed teams to one side by scoring three goals. In that other match, Spurs scored two through Adebayor, keeping a clean sheet in the process. It could have been twelve or thirteen yesterday for Spurs, such was their dominance of Bolton and Jussi Jaaskelainen can be proud of keeping the score down to just three. Admittedly, Gary Cahill was sent off early on and it was a bad decision, but that wouldn’t have halted a Spurs side who were set to win that game.

Up next for Spurs is Stoke City away, a side notoriously difficult to beat on their little pitch at the Britannia Stadium. That match will be very interesting to watch and if Spurs roll them over too, then you can’t but start paying serious attention to Harry Redknapp’s men.

Steve Kean

For once, Steve Kean gets to taste the sweet, sweet experience of being in our ‘Good Week’ section. Rather unfairly, Kean has occupied ‘Bad Week’ but not down to him being a poor manager, just the fact that everything was going against him. An un-just penalty decision against Norwich City, squandered chances against Chelsea and an airplane flown over Ewood Park prompting Venky’s to drew emphasis to just how unlucky this man is.

Finally, Kean’s luck appears to have turned after a 4-2 win against a troublesome Swansea side. Three points and now just a point off of escaping the relegation places ensures Steve Kean a ‘Good Week’, this week.

Bad Week

Referees

I wouldn’t like to be one, nor would you. However, it doesn’t stop me nor you hammering a referee every time he calls a decision wrong.

In case study one, Stuart Attwell sends off Gary Cahill for what was a supposed ‘last man offence’. That decision forced Bolton into trying to defend against an already-rampant Spurs side for 73 minutes, with a man disadvantage. Now let’s look at the facts. For starters, it was Scott Parker who would have broke free, starting his run just past the halfway line with two defenders covering, Scott Parker isn’t the quickest and Bolton’s other defenders would have been able to force him wide, which means there wouldn’t have been a clear goal-scoring opportunity to be had.

In case study two, Mike Dean fails to send off comedy-defender, David Luiz as he brought down Newcastle United striker, Demba Ba on the edge of his area, with Ba clear of any other defender. If Luiz had indeed left it, it was a clear goal-scoring opportunity for Demba Ba to take. This, then, means that Luiz should indeed have been sent off. Luiz’s sending off would have put Chelsea on the back foot and Newcastle would have enjoyed a much easier day. Instead, Chelsea battered Newcastle 3-0.

Unless there’s a sudden change of rules in what defines a ‘clear goal-scoring opportunity’, there needs to be some public apologies made to both Owen Coyle and Alan Pardew respectively.

Blackburn fans.

Called out on Match of the Day as needing to back their manager, and again on Football First, Blackburn fans have been highlighted as a group of stupid oaves. Quite rightly so to be fair. For starters, putting an airplane in the air to fly a banner stating, ‘KEAN OUT’ must have one, cost money and two, it ultimately proved worthless as Steve Kean signed a new contract just the other week. This plane was flown during a game, an unwelcome distraction for both manager, staff and players at Blackburn.

Add that to the boo’s and general abuse targeted at Kean, it gets beyond ridiculous. Could it have reached greater hights of total lunacy? Why yes, Blackburn fans launed a ‘week of mourning’ just a few weeks ago, marking the first year under Venky’s charge by laying wreaths and flowers at Jack Walker’s statue.

What clowns.

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

Crystal Palace Raid United’s Fortress

Morning!

Now I have to admit, I turned Manchester United v Crystal Palace off fifteen minutes in as the early stages indicated one of the most boring games since time began, so I went to Channel Five to celebrate ‘Spursday’ in the Europa League as they were losing 2-0 to Greek giants, PAOK Salonika, so as you can imagine, me being an Arsenal fan and all, that score line tasted how Gold would feel if you could indeed eat or drink it.

Eventually, I even grew tired of that! I don’t know what it was, maybe some form of ‘fatigue’ from watching too much football of late, as if a thing could ever exist! Unfortunately, too much football for my eyes was my final diagnosis so I went and watched ‘Bones’. Now, while I emphatically disagree that anybody could ever suffer from watching too much football, you have to take into account the quality of that football and despite Liverpool v Man City being a high-octane, adrenaline filled match, the actual football played was horrific and at the final whistle, I felt the same rush from watching a fight in a school play-ground when I was fourteen years of age, not a twenty year old happy with how the football itself was played. It was a match of blunders, not one of quality.

Don’t fret, there is an end to this warbling. Beyond Manchester United’s starting XI, it has to be noted how limited in quality United actually are, especially when it comes to their kids. United started with players such as: Darron Gibson, Federico Macheda, Dimitar Berbatov, Antonio Valencia, Mame Biram-Diouf and Ji-Sung Park, but could not topple a Crystal Palace side currently sitting twelth in the Championship. A few talented young players aside, Crystal Palace should have been swept aside by a leading club’s second-string.

United’s second-string looked woefully void of any confidence in their own abilities, a problem my own team, Arsenal, had when fielding their second-string last year. Admittedly, Arsenal went on to beat the likes of Leeds United, Leyton Orient and Huddersfield Town, but the performances themselves were poor.

For Manchester United, and Sir Alex Ferguson (SAF) in particular, this win is very scary, no matter how blase an attitude SAF will spin on this. United have always carried an annoying ability to beat opposition even when not playing at their peak, come to that, I’ve seen United sides play worse than last night’s XI and still manage to claim a win.

So what’s wrong with this United side, who in recent weeks have looked a pale imitation of a side sweeping teams away at the start of the season? It’s always been said that United player’s don’t really get along, but are held together by SAF’s iron-grip on the club. Is this lack of understanding between players beginning to spill on to the pitch?

Saying that United purely have a problem however, would be disservice to Crystal Palace’s effort’s last night. Yes, it wasn’t fun to watch, but if you love the defensive, gritty side of the game, then you will have loved last night. Palace dug up a resolve more commonly found in trench-warfare and managed to surive a severe shelling from Manchester United in the dying stages.

Finally, I must leave you with this effort from Darren Ambrose…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YV30HljVPM

What. A. Goal.

See you in the comments…

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Craig in Championship, England, Premiership Leave a comment

No, Wenger Is Not Going / Spurs Comfortably Beat Villa

Morning!

First of all, I need to clear the air to anyone who doesn’t know, about Arsene Wenger’s, ‘I will leave at the end of the season’ headlines in the Sunday/Monday morning newspapers. The beauty of English journalists, is that the majority take snippets from interviews in order to put their own spin on it.

During an interview with L’Equipe, Arsene Wenger said about being Arsenal manager next season, ‘We’ll look at things at the end of this one. I still have two years to run on my contract’. To your average journalist, that line is absolute gold, you can spin that and recycle it a thousand times over. Sadly, there are people willing to ignore the source of the comments.

I know this relatively old news now, seen as though the story ‘broke’ over 48 hours ago, but as I was buying my morning newspaper (The Times, I am a sophisticated young chap) a man in the queue started warbling about loyalty, Arsene Wenger and how it was all about money, you know, the usual moan and groan. I felt it my moral obligation to inform him of the article and what lay behind it, something which feeled me with joy and as such, for those of you reading this who don’t know the origin of said story, I found a transcript of the entire interview. Well, I say found, it was smack in my face on Twitter! Head over to Arseblog by clicking the link provided here.

In other news, Spurs comfortably swept Aston Villa aside. As an Arsenal fan, it hurts me down to the bone for me to admit this, but Spurs did look very accomplished last night, making light work of a hard-working Aston Villa team, if a team a little low on quality. Again, Kyle Walker made a case for Euro 2012 selection, keeping sprint/strength merchant, Gabriel Agbonlahor in his pocket, whilst Younes Kaboul comfortably picked off Darren Bent every time he indicated a movement. It was a solid defensive display from a side usually widely critisiced for being too cavalier.

Part of Spurs’ new-found defensive strength, is the tenacity provided by a Scott Parker wanting to make up on lost time at this level. Everywhere you look, Scott Parker is there, breaking up an attack, then sparking an attack himself by playing it simply for somebody else. He’s a brilliant player and one a few clubs missed a trick in buying. Parker would fit in at many clubs, did you see him single-handedly battle the Spanish armada last week? Brilliant performance!

It was Adebayor however who claimed the headlines for Spurs last night, scoring two from close range. His first wat a good finish, performing an overhead kick to divert the ball into Shay Given’s bottom left. Adebayor’s second was a bit of a gift, with James Collins and Given apparently not communicating following a Gareth Bale cross. Collins slid across Given’s path and rather than Given routinely collecting Bale’s cross, Given misjudged it due to Collins’ lunge and Adebayor stabbed home from all of fifteen centimetres. As good as two goals is on paper, this is classic Adebayor. He will work his balls off for the team in the opening period of matches, then drop a little, score brace or two, then disappear completely, saying he’s fell out of love with a set of fans who used to hate him. Bloody mercenary. How he can love fans who used to hate him is beyond me. I can understand going from love to hate, but the opposite? No, not for me, it’s just sick!

That’s that from me, I will see you in the comments…

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Posted on November 22, 2011 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

RVDV, Where To Play Him?!

Morning!

Okay, so a shorter post than usual but there’s plenty to chew on, so let’s get started! First up, is what to do with Rafael Van Der Vaart? Clearly, Rafa is a great player, but there is good reason as to why he flopped so disastrously at Real Madrid.

First of all, there is Rafa’s ill-enthusiasm to get back and chase harry opposition players for the ball, the Dutchman is an unwilling participant in the art’s of tracking back and helping out, which does not help Spurs when they’re playing high quality opposition who will just go straight through their midfield. Did you watch Man City v Spurs? Yes, me too and it was almost cringe-worthy the way in which Samir Nasri, David Silva and Sergio Aguero were allowed freedom of White Hart Lane. Rafa was nowhere to be seen that day and as a result, feigned injury, claiming he’d pulled a hamstring, which is a three week lay-off. Rafa was back a week later, some coincidence?! Rafa had pulled out the game early so as to make a desperate attempt of making himself look better.

Another reason as to why Van Der Vaar is not the ideal player for better opposition, is due to a distinct lack of mobility. VDV has the turning pace of a Panzer Tank and as such, he can slow attacks down. Rafa is also not the best with his back to goal, he too often tries the spectacular when only the simple is required.

It’s not all bad where Rafa’s concerned however. When attacking goal, he can cause absolute havoc amongst most defences, which is why when at Ajax, he was one of the most sought after young properties in European football. However, only a move to Hamburg was the best Rafa had on offer, no big money move to Inter Milan, Manchester United or Arsenal ever cropped up, infact at the time I expected him to move to Bayern Munich. Instead, Rafa joined Hamburg, Bayern Munich’s less fortunate cousins and played there for a few seasons, playing well, looking good and generally becoming a hit in Hamburg. Rafa had the team built around him at Hamburg and he flourished, mainly because he had no defensive responsibilities.. Then a move to Real Madrid, where Rafa looked so out of his depth it was embarrassing and as I said previously, Van Der Vaart bares a lack of mobility and hard graft, which for the top teams doesn’t cut it.

So where do you play Rafael Van Der Vaart? Harry Redknapp has stated it’s a straight decision between him and Jermain Defoe who for me, is a much more problematic player for opposition defences. Defoe can receive the ball, spin his marker and in an instant he’s at goal, trying to cut the throat of a defence, so as well as being able to finish from anywhere, I’d say Defoe wins that contest hands down!

I’ll see you in the comments…

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Posted on October 7, 2011 by Craig in England, Premiership 1 Comment

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