1. Swans stretch
their wings and truly fly
Clwb Pel-droed Dinas Abertawa swept to League Cup glory yesterday at the hands of the former wool capital of the world. For Bradford City, 5-0 seemed harsh and this was clearly one game too many in what has become a memorable and historic cup run. Swansea however, deserve every bit of credit going bestowed on them. It has been a remarkable few years for the Welsh team and they are a club that have benefited from having three successive managers who play the game in the right way. It seemed unlikely in August that Michael Laudrup would be able to carry on where Brendan Rodgers had left off. It seemed impossible that he would take them to a higher level again. Swansea aren’t just safe from relegation, they are as close to Manchester City as they are in turn to Manchester Utd. As it was, Laudrup could save his players both mentally and physically for this match over the past few weeks and his decision to do so was fully justified in a marvellous display of passing, attacking football. Swansea made a mockery of Arsenal and Villa’s botched attempts to get past Bradford. They showed their class not by trying to out-score, out-fight or out-pace the team from league two… but by just keeping the ball. Swansea had over 60% of possession, completed more passes than any team outside of Barcelona this weekend and scored five, well taken goals. Europe beckons and on the evidence of the last 12 months the greatest compliment you can currently pay Swansea, is that they will not be out of place.
Clwb Pel-droed Dinas Abertawa swept to League Cup glory yesterday at the hands of the former wool capital of the world. For Bradford City, 5-0 seemed harsh and this was clearly one game too many in what has become a memorable and historic cup run. Swansea however, deserve every bit of credit going bestowed on them. It has been a remarkable few years for the Welsh team and they are a club that have benefited from having three successive managers who play the game in the right way. It seemed unlikely in August that Michael Laudrup would be able to carry on where Brendan Rodgers had left off. It seemed impossible that he would take them to a higher level again. Swansea aren’t just safe from relegation, they are as close to Manchester City as they are in turn to Manchester Utd. As it was, Laudrup could save his players both mentally and physically for this match over the past few weeks and his decision to do so was fully justified in a marvellous display of passing, attacking football. Swansea made a mockery of Arsenal and Villa’s botched attempts to get past Bradford. They showed their class not by trying to out-score, out-fight or out-pace the team from league two… but by just keeping the ball. Swansea had over 60% of possession, completed more passes than any team outside of Barcelona this weekend and scored five, well taken goals. Europe beckons and on the evidence of the last 12 months the greatest compliment you can currently pay Swansea, is that they will not be out of place.
2. Chelsea are not
guaranteed a top four finish
When Rafa Benitez took over at Chelsea back in November I said he should prioritise the cup competitions because there was no chance of his team finishing outside the top four. That claim now looks shaky. Benitez spoke like a true manager prior to the game on Sunday about how a Chelsea win would see the gap close to just one point between them and City, but what he didn’t say was what would happen if they lost it. Chelsea now lie just two points ahead of Arsenal, who have nothing left to be distracted by and whose players currently owe Arsene Wenger a huge last ten games. Spurs sit in between the two and can rise above the Blues if they defeat a struggling West Ham tonight. Whisper it, but Chelsea could easily finish 5th. Since Benitez took over from Di Matteo, in what somehow remains only the second most offensive sacking this season, Chelsea have played 15 Premier League games and have won just 7 of them. They have played more games than any other team in England (47 so far) and that number is likely to rise to well over 60 following their continued involvement in both the FA Cup and Europa League. It seems implausible that Chelsea could play over seventy games this season in seven different competitions and win absolutely nothing, but that is what is currently happening and they may not even have the consolation prize of Champions League football to cling on to. I can’t be bothered to discuss their faults again on this blog (defence, attack, discipline, killer instinct, john obi mikel) – but for now let us just lean back and dream, that this may just be the most long winded failure of a football season in living memory.
When Rafa Benitez took over at Chelsea back in November I said he should prioritise the cup competitions because there was no chance of his team finishing outside the top four. That claim now looks shaky. Benitez spoke like a true manager prior to the game on Sunday about how a Chelsea win would see the gap close to just one point between them and City, but what he didn’t say was what would happen if they lost it. Chelsea now lie just two points ahead of Arsenal, who have nothing left to be distracted by and whose players currently owe Arsene Wenger a huge last ten games. Spurs sit in between the two and can rise above the Blues if they defeat a struggling West Ham tonight. Whisper it, but Chelsea could easily finish 5th. Since Benitez took over from Di Matteo, in what somehow remains only the second most offensive sacking this season, Chelsea have played 15 Premier League games and have won just 7 of them. They have played more games than any other team in England (47 so far) and that number is likely to rise to well over 60 following their continued involvement in both the FA Cup and Europa League. It seems implausible that Chelsea could play over seventy games this season in seven different competitions and win absolutely nothing, but that is what is currently happening and they may not even have the consolation prize of Champions League football to cling on to. I can’t be bothered to discuss their faults again on this blog (defence, attack, discipline, killer instinct, john obi mikel) – but for now let us just lean back and dream, that this may just be the most long winded failure of a football season in living memory.
3. The Toon still
know how to party
Over the last twenty years you’d be hard pushed to find a venue that has served up as many top flight humdingers as St James Park. So it proved again this weekend, as the most entertaining looking fixture on paper, for once transferred into the most entertaining in practice as well. Newcastle and Southampton served up a feast of attacking football that reminded us what the Premier League was all about. Six goals, bags of chances and high drama were all thrown into a North vs South hotpot of fun that was capped by a goal of ludicrous quality by Papiss Cisse and an own goal of epic comedic proportions. All in all, more entertainment than Stokes last three seasons in the top flight in one match…
Over the last twenty years you’d be hard pushed to find a venue that has served up as many top flight humdingers as St James Park. So it proved again this weekend, as the most entertaining looking fixture on paper, for once transferred into the most entertaining in practice as well. Newcastle and Southampton served up a feast of attacking football that reminded us what the Premier League was all about. Six goals, bags of chances and high drama were all thrown into a North vs South hotpot of fun that was capped by a goal of ludicrous quality by Papiss Cisse and an own goal of epic comedic proportions. All in all, more entertainment than Stokes last three seasons in the top flight in one match…
4. Everton have only
themselves to blame
The writing isn’t on the wall just yet, but back to back away defeats have all but ended Everton’s hope of Champions League qualification and with it the optimism that this could have been their best season yet under Moyes. Everton have a fine team but a weak squad and have several players who have badly underperformed over the past three months. Moyes dropped Jelavic for a single game before recalling him for no real reason that I can fathom. The Croat has scored 1 goal in his last 1200 minutes and is right now making Fernando Torres look lethal. Johnny Heitinga is another who has stumbled badly of late. Everton have kept just one clean sheet all season when he’s started a game and it seems incredible that he was playing in a World Cup final 2 years ago. Everton have players looking tired at the wrong time and whilst they’re still in the FA Cup, the fans are looking over their shoulders rather than upwards. The thought of Liverpool (3 points behind and with a homebanker derby still to come)
overtaking them is now no longer an outside possibility, but a very real fear.
The writing isn’t on the wall just yet, but back to back away defeats have all but ended Everton’s hope of Champions League qualification and with it the optimism that this could have been their best season yet under Moyes. Everton have a fine team but a weak squad and have several players who have badly underperformed over the past three months. Moyes dropped Jelavic for a single game before recalling him for no real reason that I can fathom. The Croat has scored 1 goal in his last 1200 minutes and is right now making Fernando Torres look lethal. Johnny Heitinga is another who has stumbled badly of late. Everton have kept just one clean sheet all season when he’s started a game and it seems incredible that he was playing in a World Cup final 2 years ago. Everton have players looking tired at the wrong time and whilst they’re still in the FA Cup, the fans are looking over their shoulders rather than upwards. The thought of Liverpool (3 points behind and with a home
5. Managers in the Wilderness
– Case One: David O’Leary
Given the Premier League title is all but over and I’m on a continued self-imposed ban from openly discussing Arsenal, I have found myself struggling to come up with relevant, entertaining points of late. As such I am starting a new feature that I’m hoping, at the very least, will be slightly more successful than Andy Townsends ill fated “tactics truck” - Managers in the Wilderness. First up… what on earth happened to David O’Leary?
Given the Premier League title is all but over and I’m on a continued self-imposed ban from openly discussing Arsenal, I have found myself struggling to come up with relevant, entertaining points of late. As such I am starting a new feature that I’m hoping, at the very least, will be slightly more successful than Andy Townsends ill fated “tactics truck” - Managers in the Wilderness. First up… what on earth happened to David O’Leary?
In the year 2001 O’Leary guided Leeds United to the
semi-finals of the Champions League with a strike force of Alan Smith and Mark
Viduka. Sure he spent a lot of money at the club (£100m in four years), but he
never finished outside of the top six and despite not being in any way
responsible for Peter Risdale’s actions, appears to still be held accountable
for them to this day. O’Leary had a win ratio of 50% at Leeds, which is a fine
effort for any manager in a competitive industry and went on to do a fair to
middling job at Aston Villa. Sure Villa hardly punched above their weight when
he was there, but at least they weren’t involved in a relegation dogfight
either. Since then, O’Leary remained out of work for four years. Then in 2010
he took a bizarre and ill-fated job in the UAE where he was sacked after just
seven games, despite only losing twice. Other than that period, O’Leary has
been out of work for seven years whilst the likes of Steve Bruce still get
continued employment. Even Peter Reid has had more action that O’Leary in this
timeframe. Now I’m not saying that O’Leary deserves a contract with the next
club looking for a manager, but given he appears to be doing literally nothing else with his time,
surely there are worse people out there you could take a punt on?
Yeah. I’m not sure that feature worked either…
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