1. Is this really an open title race?
The most open title race for years. One of six could win it. This one will go all the way to the wire. You could pick any of those statements at random and find them in almost any newspaper every weekend at the moment. However, all of these statements continue to rely on something that, at this stage, still hasn’t happened. And that is Arsenal suffering a bad run of form. Consider this for a moment. Sir Alex Ferguson is still at Manchester United and after 15 games his team find themselves 5 points clear at the top of the table. They find themselves in good form, scoring goals, with the best defensive record to boot. They possess the stand out contender for player of the year and all of their rivals continue to drop points almost every week, especially away from home. Would anyone be saying this was an open title race? No. They would be saying the writing was on the wall and this could be over by March. Arsenal of course, aren’t Ferguson’s United. Even if they are a more credible alternative than David Moyes’ United. But January looms closer and the Gunners injury list is shortening. Centre forward aside, they are well stocked in every area. Indeed, their midfield cup runneth over with such riches that their rivals must be sick of the sight of pacy, creative magicians coming off the bench if the first lot haven’t done the job. Arsenal didn’t even win this weekend and still extended their lead at the top. They have two huge games up next in City and Chelsea, but even if they get say, one point from those two they would remain top and see themselves playing the current bottom quarter in 5 of their next 6 fixtures. Of course, if pushed, I too would probably not put any money on them winning the league. But it will be interesting at what point people stop considering them to be merely having a very good run... and realise that they are quite clearly the team to beat.
2. Jose’s defence is full of holes
It’s safe to say that this weekend’s result at the Britannia was right up there with any shocks we’ve had this season. A badly out of form Stoke, who hadn’t scored in 4 hours of football, coming from behind to draw and eventually beat Chelsea by 3 goals to 2. Jose bemoaned his attackers afterwards, and he had good reason to given a Chelsea centre forward has still not netted an away league goal in 2013. But 99% of the time, scoring two goals against Stoke is gonna be enough to win the game. The reason Chelsea lost on Saturday wasn’t because Fernando Torres missed a string of chances, it was because Mourinho’s side currently cannot defend a set piece to save their lives. After conceding 3 goals in this manner to Sunderland midweek, the Chelsea boss saw his team pegged back by yet another terrible set piece mix up. To rub salt into his wounds he then witnessed several mistakes in the build up to Sunderland’s second, before the sight of Assaidi turning Ivanovic like he was a duck on ice and hammering in the winner. Chelsea have stuttered this season like everyone with the exception of Arsenal and Everton. But they key to any title winning team remains the defence. The ability to grind out 1 nil wins when you’re not playing well being far more important than scoring half a dozen when you are. Chelsea don’t look capable of doing that at the moment. Ashley Cole can’t get a game, John Terry is playing every minute despite question marks over his fitness and Ivanovic is a sham of a right back. Sure he’s brilliant going forward, but only really from set pieces. He has continuously given his best performances for Chelsea from centre back so it baffles me why he is still deployed out wide whilst Azpilicueta, the best right back in the league, is using his wrong foot on the other side. Jose hasn’t really changed four of his back five all season, and with different options and personal available... perhaps it’s time he did.
3. Tony Pulis could organise a damn good piss up in a brewery
Three games, two wins, two clean sheets, two goals for Chamakh. It’s early days but this is already a miracle healing job from Tony Pulis. Crystal Palace obviously haven’t bought anyone since Pulis took over, and indeed the most negative manager outside of Greece has actually started playing two up front. What has changed though is plain and simple organisation. And there are few people better at it than our Tony. Crystal Palace have been a regimented unit of efficiency in their last two games. Closing down space, marking intelligently and actually learning the art of defending a set piece. They are still in the relegation zone, but only on goal difference and are now just a win away from 15th spot. Chelsea away is next up which should give us more of an idea how Tony is doing. If Chamakh can score against England’s Brave John Terry then anything is possible. Expect a recall for his beloved country hopefully.
4. Martinez & Pardew should be happy to be ignored
Arsenal and Man City’s home team aside, the two clubs who should be getting the most credit at present are Everton and Newcastle. The former are playing some truly wonderful football and have, seemingly overnight, evolved into a squad full of young attacking talent harnessed by a rock sold defence. The latter are the best example of a “team” in the league - with each and every player doing a job for the good of the unit. Alan Pardew’s men have beaten Chelsea, Spurs and Man Utd in the last month with a collective scoreline of 4-0 in their favour. A feat that won’t be matched by anybody come May. They sit in 5th and 7th respectively, both within striking distance of the Champions League spots. They also, of course, both won at Old Trafford this week and on both occasions were not given their fair share of praise from a media more focussed on the wreckage of Alex Ferguson’s title winning side. They should be grateful for this though. Football is a fickle business and, as a general rule, if nobody is talking about you it’s probably because you’re doing a very good job. Both these managers are, in highly contrasting ways. But they both deserve huge credit in a season that is really separating the men from the David Moyes.
5. Manchester United could get worse, before they get any better
With the parting words of Sir Alex ringing in their ears, it is likely that the board of Manchester United will give David Moyes until the end of the season to prove to them that he is the right man for the job. After 15 league games, he looks anything but that. People can criticize the squad he was left with all they want, but it was still a squad that won the title by a near record margin and Moyes was well aware of the flaws within it even before he took over. Of course, the Fergie Factor goes a long way, but even without that, the time has very much come for Moyes to be judged on his own two feet. Put bluntly, he is failing on every single level that you can judge someone on. His team selection is seemingly random, with no hold of the art of rotating players for the right fixtures whatsoever. His defence is creaking, error strewn and lacking in basic organisation. Something that he was famed for at Everton. His midfield doesn’t function either as a creative force or a protective one. He has killed, stone dead, the careers of Nani, Young, Cleverly, Fellani, Kagawa and Valencia in 4 months. Players who clubs would have fallen over themselves to sign a year ago (ok maybe not Cleverly) and now couldn’t be sold to Sunderland. His attack has become hopelessly one dimensional, reliant completely on Rooney to the extent that the striking talent of RVP and Hernandez looked like they had no idea what they were doing on a pitch together. But worst of all, worse even than his insipid, cowardly post match interviews, is his complete lack of man management.
Looking around the pitch during the last four games, none of them victories, I could see nobody bar Rooney and De Gea who looked bothered about winning. Many people pointed to the good work on a limited resource Moyes had done at Everton as why he should be given a shot at the Utd job. Others, and I wasn’t one of them then, instead looked at a record against big clubs or in big games of somebody who did not possess the necessary nous, bottle, ability... whatever you want to call it... to get his team over the line when it mattered. Right now those people are laughing. Because as manager of Manchester Utd, League Champions, every game is a big game. And right now it’s becoming increasingly clear that David Moyes simply cannot handle the pressure.
Utd obviously won’t win the league and they probably won’t get near the top four bar a complete collapse from both Merseyside clubs. To be honest, it’s probably best if they finish mid-table, take it on the chin and realise that whilst Fergie did more good for his club than any in its history... he left them up shit creek without a paddle when he choose his replacement.
https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey
Sunday, 8 December 2013
Sunday, 1 December 2013
Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Thirteen
1. Stalemate at the
Lane leaves both teams chasing shadows
Spurs v Man Utd was, as ever, an entertaining match filled with moments of quality, refereeing controversy and lots of goals. But as the game eventually ended with the teams locked together, it had becoming increasingly clear that neither of these teams have the quality to challenge for the title. Utd have fine attackers; Rooney was at his imperious best yet again and is forming a decent partnership with Kagawa in the absence of the still brilliant Van Persie. I cannot be bothered to even think, let alone write, about the midfield deficiencies anymore. Let me just say that when a 40 year old man is the best the club can still offer, you have problems. Behind even that obvious problem lies a defence where only Jonny Evans seems capable of going 90 minutes without making a mistake. That’s right… Jonny Evans. Spurs meanwhile find themselves changing their team not by wholesale but by incessant one tweak there, one fiddle there measures. Whatever you call it, it isn’t working. And nor are Roberto Soldado’s shooting boots. Spurs have a good, solid spine and over the season won’t concede a lot of goals, despite the 8 they have just shipped to Manchester. But both of these teams lack the ability throughout the squad to put together a run of 7 or 8 wins and challenge for the main event. No, it is likely both will be competing for a single Champions League spot with the Merseyside clubs come May. Although given both are still below Newcastle… maybe even that is wishful thinking.
Spurs v Man Utd was, as ever, an entertaining match filled with moments of quality, refereeing controversy and lots of goals. But as the game eventually ended with the teams locked together, it had becoming increasingly clear that neither of these teams have the quality to challenge for the title. Utd have fine attackers; Rooney was at his imperious best yet again and is forming a decent partnership with Kagawa in the absence of the still brilliant Van Persie. I cannot be bothered to even think, let alone write, about the midfield deficiencies anymore. Let me just say that when a 40 year old man is the best the club can still offer, you have problems. Behind even that obvious problem lies a defence where only Jonny Evans seems capable of going 90 minutes without making a mistake. That’s right… Jonny Evans. Spurs meanwhile find themselves changing their team not by wholesale but by incessant one tweak there, one fiddle there measures. Whatever you call it, it isn’t working. And nor are Roberto Soldado’s shooting boots. Spurs have a good, solid spine and over the season won’t concede a lot of goals, despite the 8 they have just shipped to Manchester. But both of these teams lack the ability throughout the squad to put together a run of 7 or 8 wins and challenge for the main event. No, it is likely both will be competing for a single Champions League spot with the Merseyside clubs come May. Although given both are still below Newcastle… maybe even that is wishful thinking.
2. Chelsea have the
best reserve number 10 in the world
The reason Juan Mata can’t get a game, as Jose tells us, is because Oscar is playing in his position and playing out of his skin. That may well be true, but as the Brazilian limped off before half time on Sunday, Mata stepped into his chosen role and from there on in pulled the strings in a second half performance of real quality. Chelsea were outplayed and tactically out thought in the first half. They deserved to be behind to a Southampton team who closed them down all over the pitch. But they came out second half playing longer balls over the middle and were a blur of movement around the Saints penalty box. Key to all of this was Mata. Whether ghosting into space, laying off deft touches or playing mesmeric cross field passes with his instep… the Spaniard reminded everyone that he is simply far, far, far, far too good a player to be on the bench. So should Jose drop Oscar? Clearly not. But given the kid has played 200 games in the last 18 months it wouldn’t hurt to have a slightly more liberal approach to rotating him. Plus even on the flanks Mata remains a handful. Especially when one of your options is Willian. Who is so bad he belongs in a very unique club which I like to call “The Nani’s.”
The reason Juan Mata can’t get a game, as Jose tells us, is because Oscar is playing in his position and playing out of his skin. That may well be true, but as the Brazilian limped off before half time on Sunday, Mata stepped into his chosen role and from there on in pulled the strings in a second half performance of real quality. Chelsea were outplayed and tactically out thought in the first half. They deserved to be behind to a Southampton team who closed them down all over the pitch. But they came out second half playing longer balls over the middle and were a blur of movement around the Saints penalty box. Key to all of this was Mata. Whether ghosting into space, laying off deft touches or playing mesmeric cross field passes with his instep… the Spaniard reminded everyone that he is simply far, far, far, far too good a player to be on the bench. So should Jose drop Oscar? Clearly not. But given the kid has played 200 games in the last 18 months it wouldn’t hurt to have a slightly more liberal approach to rotating him. Plus even on the flanks Mata remains a handful. Especially when one of your options is Willian. Who is so bad he belongs in a very unique club which I like to call “The Nani’s.”
3. Pascal Chimbonda
is a legend
Let us take a break from the top flight for a moment to remember somebody who used to be in it. Pascal Chimbonda, once of Spurs, Sunderland, Wigan and France… and purchased 18 times by Harry Redknapp during transfer windows, is currently playing for League 1 Carlisle United. The phrase “how the mighty have fallen” doesn’t really apply here. For starters Chimbonda never really looked like a footballer to begin with; more of an actor who’d wandered onto the pitch between takes and kind of thought he knew what he was doing. But also because prior to joining Carlisle, Chimbonda had been playing for first Doncaster and then non-league Market Drayton Town. The time has come though, for Pascal to not be mocked for his fall from grace, but celebrated for it. This is a player who clearly loves the game. A man who has no interest in football for the cash, but just for the feeling of stepping on a pitch every Saturday and giving his all. Chimbonda is a dying breed. Hell this is a player who loves the sport so much he agreed to play with El Hadji Diouf. Three fucking times. Pascal. I salute you. And if Harry gets back in the big time soon, I for one will cheer your inevitable signing.
Let us take a break from the top flight for a moment to remember somebody who used to be in it. Pascal Chimbonda, once of Spurs, Sunderland, Wigan and France… and purchased 18 times by Harry Redknapp during transfer windows, is currently playing for League 1 Carlisle United. The phrase “how the mighty have fallen” doesn’t really apply here. For starters Chimbonda never really looked like a footballer to begin with; more of an actor who’d wandered onto the pitch between takes and kind of thought he knew what he was doing. But also because prior to joining Carlisle, Chimbonda had been playing for first Doncaster and then non-league Market Drayton Town. The time has come though, for Pascal to not be mocked for his fall from grace, but celebrated for it. This is a player who clearly loves the game. A man who has no interest in football for the cash, but just for the feeling of stepping on a pitch every Saturday and giving his all. Chimbonda is a dying breed. Hell this is a player who loves the sport so much he agreed to play with El Hadji Diouf. Three fucking times. Pascal. I salute you. And if Harry gets back in the big time soon, I for one will cheer your inevitable signing.
4. Jol had to go
Martin Jol’s position this weekend was just about the dictionary definition of “untenable.” Fulham have now lost five games in a row and are entrenched in the relegation zone. Conceding to the likes of Man Utd and Liverpool is one thing, but conceding three goals to West Ham is something else. Hell, conceding any goal to Carlton Cole is worth the sack alone. Jol ended the last season badly and has never got started this one. Fulham aren’t scoring, are shipping goals like the Titanic did water and look almost completely leaderless. Jol is a likeable man, and I for one would like to see him back in the big leagues with a team solid enough to be able to compete as well as play pretty stuff with almost zero end product going forward. Fulham wasted no time in turning to Rene Meulensteen to rectify the damage caused by Jol’s entertaining but ultimately sub Chris Coleman reign. The Dutchman is highly thought of because he once urinated next to Sir Alex Ferguson. Well that and the fact David Moyes got rid of him. Which right now is just about the highest compliment you could pay anyone. So I’m sure he’ll do fine.
Martin Jol’s position this weekend was just about the dictionary definition of “untenable.” Fulham have now lost five games in a row and are entrenched in the relegation zone. Conceding to the likes of Man Utd and Liverpool is one thing, but conceding three goals to West Ham is something else. Hell, conceding any goal to Carlton Cole is worth the sack alone. Jol ended the last season badly and has never got started this one. Fulham aren’t scoring, are shipping goals like the Titanic did water and look almost completely leaderless. Jol is a likeable man, and I for one would like to see him back in the big leagues with a team solid enough to be able to compete as well as play pretty stuff with almost zero end product going forward. Fulham wasted no time in turning to Rene Meulensteen to rectify the damage caused by Jol’s entertaining but ultimately sub Chris Coleman reign. The Dutchman is highly thought of because he once urinated next to Sir Alex Ferguson. Well that and the fact David Moyes got rid of him. Which right now is just about the highest compliment you could pay anyone. So I’m sure he’ll do fine.
5. Hull aren’t just
cultured off the pitch
Having just spent a surprisingly nice weekend in Hull (it had trees and everything) – I thought I’d do them the honour of my final blog piece. Of course, they somewhat helped me on that front by putting together an inspired display this afternoon where they played Liverpool off the park. Brendan Rodgers men have hit a bit of a wall away from Anfield, and one that won’t be helped by the news that Daniel Sturridge is out until the New Year. It wasn’t entirely clear why Sterling was on the pitch instead of Coutinho… or anyone, but it’s hard to think of a more ineffective performance since Willian last started a gig. Sorry, a game. Anyway, with Suarez not at the races it was left for Steve Bruce’s team to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in. Which they duly did, led by pub captain Curtis Davies. Hull have been relegation fodder waiting to happen all season, so I was amazed not only that their city had some nice areas… but that they now sit a barely believable single place back from Spurs in the table. Two back from the champions themselves. If that isn’t a reason to forget about a name change I don’t know what is. Well, Arsenal away in two days maybe.
Having just spent a surprisingly nice weekend in Hull (it had trees and everything) – I thought I’d do them the honour of my final blog piece. Of course, they somewhat helped me on that front by putting together an inspired display this afternoon where they played Liverpool off the park. Brendan Rodgers men have hit a bit of a wall away from Anfield, and one that won’t be helped by the news that Daniel Sturridge is out until the New Year. It wasn’t entirely clear why Sterling was on the pitch instead of Coutinho… or anyone, but it’s hard to think of a more ineffective performance since Willian last started a gig. Sorry, a game. Anyway, with Suarez not at the races it was left for Steve Bruce’s team to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in. Which they duly did, led by pub captain Curtis Davies. Hull have been relegation fodder waiting to happen all season, so I was amazed not only that their city had some nice areas… but that they now sit a barely believable single place back from Spurs in the table. Two back from the champions themselves. If that isn’t a reason to forget about a name change I don’t know what is. Well, Arsenal away in two days maybe.
Goodnight.
Sunday, 24 November 2013
Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Twelve
1. Merseyside Madness
The Merseyside derby has been lacking a bit in recent years. Not so much in passion or full heartedness, but certainly in terms of quality and genuine entertainment. All that changed this weekend with a match that wasn’t just the best derby in recent times, but the best the top flight had offered for several years. Liverpool fans may well point to the incorrect decision to award Kevin Mirallas a yellow rather than a red for a recklessly high tackle on Suarez, but such an act would have ruined what then evolved into a farcical end to end battle of attacking intent. The managers deserve full credit. Gone was the pragmatism of previous derbies, replaced instead by passing, pressing football and a desire to score goals. Rodgers brought on two extra attackers in the last 20 minutes when his team were merely drawing. Everything you could want from a football match was here, from wonderful goals and moments of sublime skill (anything involving Countinho) all the way through to hopeless defending, misplaced passes and blood curdling tackles. A draw, ultimately, was the fair result. Everton’s superior number of chances offset by that Mirallas decision and a ridiculous open goal miss from Joe Allen. I watched the match in a large pub filled with probably around 200 fans made up of both sets of supporters, enthralled neutrals and tragic fantasy football followers. There was huff, bluster and a lot of heckling throughout. But come the final whistle almost everybody in the entire pub stood up and applauded, an action I have never witnessed in a non-international match. This was football as it was meant to be. Pure and simple, theatre.
The Merseyside derby has been lacking a bit in recent years. Not so much in passion or full heartedness, but certainly in terms of quality and genuine entertainment. All that changed this weekend with a match that wasn’t just the best derby in recent times, but the best the top flight had offered for several years. Liverpool fans may well point to the incorrect decision to award Kevin Mirallas a yellow rather than a red for a recklessly high tackle on Suarez, but such an act would have ruined what then evolved into a farcical end to end battle of attacking intent. The managers deserve full credit. Gone was the pragmatism of previous derbies, replaced instead by passing, pressing football and a desire to score goals. Rodgers brought on two extra attackers in the last 20 minutes when his team were merely drawing. Everything you could want from a football match was here, from wonderful goals and moments of sublime skill (anything involving Countinho) all the way through to hopeless defending, misplaced passes and blood curdling tackles. A draw, ultimately, was the fair result. Everton’s superior number of chances offset by that Mirallas decision and a ridiculous open goal miss from Joe Allen. I watched the match in a large pub filled with probably around 200 fans made up of both sets of supporters, enthralled neutrals and tragic fantasy football followers. There was huff, bluster and a lot of heckling throughout. But come the final whistle almost everybody in the entire pub stood up and applauded, an action I have never witnessed in a non-international match. This was football as it was meant to be. Pure and simple, theatre.
2. Where have
England’s wingers gone?
Not so long ago you looked to the national team and saw several viable options to play on the flanks. The midfield conundrum remained and England have never really found a number 9 since Michael Owen, but out wide you had Joe Cole, Aaron Lennon, Ashleigh Young, Theo Walcott and Adam Johnson all in form and impressing. Now only Theo Walcott remains of that group to have a chance of going to the World Cup, and he wants to play as a striker. Injuries and confidence eroded the form of Cole some time ago, whilst Lennon never looked as comfortable in the white of England as he did at Spurs. But few players have faced such career nose dives as Young and Johnson. Two years ago the former was England’s best player in qualifying for the European Championships. He’d just moved to United and had started his career in fine style; creating chances, winning penalties without the aid of absurd swan dives and scoring goals. Since that opening season he hasn’t scored at all, a barren run now stretching over 30 matches. He has become the poster child for cheating and his career looks, if not over, in huge need of a change of direction. Johnson has fared arguably even worse. Not because he’s been playing badly per se, but because people seem to have genuinely forgot that he exists. Playing in a team who have won less than 10% of their matches since his arrival has not helped, but Johnson still has ability in his locker and, at 25, remains somebody who could yet turn his career around. So now England’s options, besides Walcott, seemingly consist of Andros Townsend and Adam Lallana, both fine prospects, but two people who have only been capped in the last few weeks. Oxlaide Chamberlain is a talent, but an injury prone one. And then there is James Milner. Which is so depressing a thought I’m just going to end this here…
Not so long ago you looked to the national team and saw several viable options to play on the flanks. The midfield conundrum remained and England have never really found a number 9 since Michael Owen, but out wide you had Joe Cole, Aaron Lennon, Ashleigh Young, Theo Walcott and Adam Johnson all in form and impressing. Now only Theo Walcott remains of that group to have a chance of going to the World Cup, and he wants to play as a striker. Injuries and confidence eroded the form of Cole some time ago, whilst Lennon never looked as comfortable in the white of England as he did at Spurs. But few players have faced such career nose dives as Young and Johnson. Two years ago the former was England’s best player in qualifying for the European Championships. He’d just moved to United and had started his career in fine style; creating chances, winning penalties without the aid of absurd swan dives and scoring goals. Since that opening season he hasn’t scored at all, a barren run now stretching over 30 matches. He has become the poster child for cheating and his career looks, if not over, in huge need of a change of direction. Johnson has fared arguably even worse. Not because he’s been playing badly per se, but because people seem to have genuinely forgot that he exists. Playing in a team who have won less than 10% of their matches since his arrival has not helped, but Johnson still has ability in his locker and, at 25, remains somebody who could yet turn his career around. So now England’s options, besides Walcott, seemingly consist of Andros Townsend and Adam Lallana, both fine prospects, but two people who have only been capped in the last few weeks. Oxlaide Chamberlain is a talent, but an injury prone one. And then there is James Milner. Which is so depressing a thought I’m just going to end this here…
3. If referees should
be consistent, why can’t managers?
If there’s a cliché that gets thrown around more than “referees need to be consistent” I’m yet to hear it. Referees will continue to get things wrong because they are human and are expected to make decisions in less than a second. Plus it’s hard to be consistent, week in week out, with nine other people all taking charge of different matches each with their own set of unique circumstances. No, what I’d like to see more of is much easier and attainable… and that’s manager consistency. It’s part and parcel of the game that there will be times when you get a decision that goes for you and times that you don’t. But do managers really have to be so, so obvious with their post-match analysis? There have been some absolute howlers from referees these last few weeks, yet no manager has had the courage to come out and lambast a referee for making the wrong call in their favour. Jose Mourinho may have been correct regarding his apology rant, but he certainly wasn’t correct by claiming that Ramires deserved a penalty for falling over as the opposition player got within a yard of him. Would it really have hurt Roberto Martinez this weekend, after just witnessing his team be involved in the game of the season, to put his hands up and say he was very lucky that Mirallas didn’t get sent off? No, instead the usually affable Spaniard claimed he “didn’t think it was a red.” Really Roberto? I’d hate to see what you do consider a red card if a wild, knee high lunge isn’t worthy of one. But if I’m going to single out anyone it has to be Mark Hughes. Fresh from getting a point at Swansea with the most invisible penalty decision in the history of the game (“I can see why the ref gave it,” mused Mark – no… no you can’t) – Hughes followed that up this week by claiming Wes Brown deserved to be sent off for a challenge that took precisely none of the man and all of the ball. It was “reckless” claimed Mark. When it wasn’t, it was merely fast. It was a “poor challenge,” he added. It wasn’t, it was a great challenge. “It took the shine off our performance, we played really well today.” No they didn’t. Sunderland dominated the game early and were undone by a decision that will be overturned within 3 seconds of an appeal. I understand football is all about mind games and managers defending their players… but for fucks sake guys, there is surely no harm in admitting you got a lucky break once in a while. It will make next week’s rant when you do get a howler far more credible for starters.
If there’s a cliché that gets thrown around more than “referees need to be consistent” I’m yet to hear it. Referees will continue to get things wrong because they are human and are expected to make decisions in less than a second. Plus it’s hard to be consistent, week in week out, with nine other people all taking charge of different matches each with their own set of unique circumstances. No, what I’d like to see more of is much easier and attainable… and that’s manager consistency. It’s part and parcel of the game that there will be times when you get a decision that goes for you and times that you don’t. But do managers really have to be so, so obvious with their post-match analysis? There have been some absolute howlers from referees these last few weeks, yet no manager has had the courage to come out and lambast a referee for making the wrong call in their favour. Jose Mourinho may have been correct regarding his apology rant, but he certainly wasn’t correct by claiming that Ramires deserved a penalty for falling over as the opposition player got within a yard of him. Would it really have hurt Roberto Martinez this weekend, after just witnessing his team be involved in the game of the season, to put his hands up and say he was very lucky that Mirallas didn’t get sent off? No, instead the usually affable Spaniard claimed he “didn’t think it was a red.” Really Roberto? I’d hate to see what you do consider a red card if a wild, knee high lunge isn’t worthy of one. But if I’m going to single out anyone it has to be Mark Hughes. Fresh from getting a point at Swansea with the most invisible penalty decision in the history of the game (“I can see why the ref gave it,” mused Mark – no… no you can’t) – Hughes followed that up this week by claiming Wes Brown deserved to be sent off for a challenge that took precisely none of the man and all of the ball. It was “reckless” claimed Mark. When it wasn’t, it was merely fast. It was a “poor challenge,” he added. It wasn’t, it was a great challenge. “It took the shine off our performance, we played really well today.” No they didn’t. Sunderland dominated the game early and were undone by a decision that will be overturned within 3 seconds of an appeal. I understand football is all about mind games and managers defending their players… but for fucks sake guys, there is surely no harm in admitting you got a lucky break once in a while. It will make next week’s rant when you do get a howler far more credible for starters.
4. Man City are now barely
credible
City’s record doesn’t tell the whole story, but it still paints a decent picture so it’s worth mentioning it straight up. At home it reads played 6, won 6, scored 26 (26!) and conceded 2. Away from home it’s played 6, won 1, drawn 1, lost 4; scoring 8 and conceding 10. That’s a big difference whichever way you look it and you’d be hard pushed to find two back to back games that highlight the difference more than the two City have just played. Anaemic and gutless at Sunderland, City once again tore into a team on their own patch from the moment the whistle was blown. AVB is a meticulous tactician so he must have known City were going to come at his team from the off? Was this really the game to throw Erik Lamela into? City, and Aguero, Nasri and Toure in particular are as ruthless at home as they are toothless away. Which begs the question… why? This is a team which now has a goal difference the same as their points tally. A team which boasts, in Aguero, the only current candidate for player of the year with Aaron Ramsey. City have Swansea next before three away fixtures and Arsenal. You feel that Pellegrini has to get 10 points from that run if his team are going to be considered a genuine title threat. At the moment, they remain a curious and wonderfully entertaining enigma. I hope for Michael Laudrup’s sake he has done his research going into next Sunday. Here’s a clue. For the first ten minutes. Just. Keep. The. Ball.
City’s record doesn’t tell the whole story, but it still paints a decent picture so it’s worth mentioning it straight up. At home it reads played 6, won 6, scored 26 (26!) and conceded 2. Away from home it’s played 6, won 1, drawn 1, lost 4; scoring 8 and conceding 10. That’s a big difference whichever way you look it and you’d be hard pushed to find two back to back games that highlight the difference more than the two City have just played. Anaemic and gutless at Sunderland, City once again tore into a team on their own patch from the moment the whistle was blown. AVB is a meticulous tactician so he must have known City were going to come at his team from the off? Was this really the game to throw Erik Lamela into? City, and Aguero, Nasri and Toure in particular are as ruthless at home as they are toothless away. Which begs the question… why? This is a team which now has a goal difference the same as their points tally. A team which boasts, in Aguero, the only current candidate for player of the year with Aaron Ramsey. City have Swansea next before three away fixtures and Arsenal. You feel that Pellegrini has to get 10 points from that run if his team are going to be considered a genuine title threat. At the moment, they remain a curious and wonderfully entertaining enigma. I hope for Michael Laudrup’s sake he has done his research going into next Sunday. Here’s a clue. For the first ten minutes. Just. Keep. The. Ball.
5. Who is the worst
striker in the league?
This season has been dominated by strikers so far with Sturridge, Suarez, Aguero, Remy, Van Persie, Rooney, Lukaku and Giroud all banging in the goals. Only Aaaron Ramsey is averaging a goal every other game as a midfielder, a far cry from last year when the likes of Mata, Hazard, Walcott, Santi and Bale were helping themselves to goals a plenty. But at the other end of the spectrum some are struggling worse than ever. Berbatov has scored once in over 15 hours. Cisse hasn’t scored at all in 11. But when comparing the worst of the lot three in particular stand out, all from clubs propping up the foot of the table. The first is Modibo Maiga, who has not scored for West Ham this season and has played so badly that his manager would rather play no striker at all, at home, then put him in the starting line-up. His confidence probably not helped further by missing an open goal on Saturday. Marouane Chamakh is well used to be slated in blogs up and down the country, mainly because he is a truly terrible footballer. But, crucially because he has scored two premier league goals in three years. And then, finally, there is Jozy Altidore. Who is yet to score for Sunderland since joining them for a barely credible £7.5m. The American had previously flopped at Hull a few years back and has so far scored a single Premier League goal in… wait for it… 35 hours. Just to break that down. That’s the equivalent of watching the entire extended version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, three times over. With the Hobbit chucked in for good measure. But seriously if you want to go home and recreate Altidore’s feat, consider one thing. Don’t watch the Hobbit. It was shit.
This season has been dominated by strikers so far with Sturridge, Suarez, Aguero, Remy, Van Persie, Rooney, Lukaku and Giroud all banging in the goals. Only Aaaron Ramsey is averaging a goal every other game as a midfielder, a far cry from last year when the likes of Mata, Hazard, Walcott, Santi and Bale were helping themselves to goals a plenty. But at the other end of the spectrum some are struggling worse than ever. Berbatov has scored once in over 15 hours. Cisse hasn’t scored at all in 11. But when comparing the worst of the lot three in particular stand out, all from clubs propping up the foot of the table. The first is Modibo Maiga, who has not scored for West Ham this season and has played so badly that his manager would rather play no striker at all, at home, then put him in the starting line-up. His confidence probably not helped further by missing an open goal on Saturday. Marouane Chamakh is well used to be slated in blogs up and down the country, mainly because he is a truly terrible footballer. But, crucially because he has scored two premier league goals in three years. And then, finally, there is Jozy Altidore. Who is yet to score for Sunderland since joining them for a barely credible £7.5m. The American had previously flopped at Hull a few years back and has so far scored a single Premier League goal in… wait for it… 35 hours. Just to break that down. That’s the equivalent of watching the entire extended version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, three times over. With the Hobbit chucked in for good measure. But seriously if you want to go home and recreate Altidore’s feat, consider one thing. Don’t watch the Hobbit. It was shit.
Sunday, 10 November 2013
Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Eleven
1. The title race is back on... for everyone.
Just 6 points separate 8 teams following Man Utd’s “hard fought” (Citation: painfully ground out) victory over Arsenal. Sky once again suffered a “Super Sunday” meltdown as three games featured successive 1 nil wins; whilst over at the Britannia the fans were treated to a 3-3 thriller featuring late drama, wonderful football and well, crucially, lots of goals. City’s away blues returned whilst it was another collective failure in front of goal for AVB’s men. Granted, Tim Krul had one of those games which keeper’s dream of, but Spurs have scored one goal in five hours of league football. And that was a penalty. It’s not entirely clear what Jermaine Defoe has to do to get a start in the league, presumably wear a Soldado mask or teleport into the misfiring Spaniard's body? All of which brought us to Old Trafford where we were all treated to the worst match of the season to date. Yep, even ones involving West Ham. Utd scored with just about the only chance of the game and that was through a set piece. Arsenal were horribly jaded and badly need some players back to rest the likes of Ozil, Ramsey and Giroud. Utd meanwhile, as they always seem to do against Arsenal, did enough to get the points and no more. Rooney was his usual self, RVP scored with his single touch of the ball all match, but other than that only Phil Jones can claim he played well of the 20 plus players who graced the pitch. Keeping Jones fit and playing every week is vital to Utd finishing in the top 4 each season. Not because he’s that good a player, but because he has the spirit of Fergie flowing through his veins. He never gives up or gives less than 100% every minute of every match. How Utd wish they could channel that sort of effort, commitment and focus from a collection of midfielders now so inept that I’m pretty sure Rooney is playing all of their positions for them. As we lunge into an international break (translation: reading week) with all the enthusiasm of Shinji Kagawa in a 50/50, let us consider for a moment that when we return Arsenal host Southampton. And if they lose that match... Saints will be top of the league. Rule Britannia.
2. Anfield is a fortress once more
5 wins from 6 and with 13 goals for to 3 against, Anfield is finally looking the home ground it was of yesteryear again. Since Rafa left, the problems with Liverpool have been countless, but few more so than the crumbling ruins that had become their home record. Rodgers finally looks to have arrested that slide; and only Southampton have come away with any points this season. Indeed, that result is looking for from an embarrassment given their current league placing. Liverpool were back in the groove on Saturday, dismantling a Fulham team which, in all honesty, my 6-a-side club could have beaten. Jol’s time looks up; his team are full of flair but lack honesty and fatal individual mistakes are creeping in at will. There are few strikers in the world, certainly this side of Ronaldo and Messi, who are capable of taking advantage of such flaws as Luis Suarez. I remain unconvinced by Suarez in the bigger fixtures, and some Champions League football would certainly do him no harm, but against anyone who is struggling he is ruthless. He is the home test, flat pitch Indian batting line up of footballers. If the conditions are right, there is no stopping him. Suarez took himself to the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts this weekend. Which is ridiculous given he missed the first five games through suspension. It was also nice to see the club keep a clean sheet again with Daniel Agger restored to the starting line up. Proof, once again, that the big bosses read the best blogs...
3. Cardiff need goals
Discussions over Cardiff city and relegation seem to have mostly passed like ships in the night thus far this season. The Welsh club have always managed to win a match when it looks like they might get in trouble, plus the failings of some of the teams below them have been more obvious or... well, interesting. The general consensus has been that as long as their owner doesn’t do anything stupid, Cardiff have enough organisation and defensive nous about them to stay up. That may or may not prove to be the case. Over 38 games, it remains goals that tend to keep you in a division rather than clean sheets, and right now Cardiff do not look like scoring very many. 9 in 11 games isn’t disastrous, but given 3 of those came in one absurd match... 6 in 10 really doesn’t look good at all. No striker has scored since that Man City game and their top scorer is currently a centre back. There is much to admire about Cardiff. They have a strong work ethic and seem to have a genuine relationship with their fans which several top flight clubs lack. But, crucially, they are fucking boring. And if there’s one thing this blog hates... it’s boring.
4. Man City really can’t win at Sunderland.
4 games... 4 one nil defeats. Man City cannot score at Sunderland let alone beat them. The big wolves from Manchester huffed and puffed on Sunday afternoon but once again were repelled by stoic defending, wonderful goalkeeping and some very bad luck. Sunderland, and the superb Wes Brown in particular, stood firm. This remains an impossible to predict season, a fact epitomised by Newcastle turning around their form with back to back clean sheet victories against Chelsea & Spurs. City must have thought they’d put their away form to bed with that thumping win at West Ham, but this was very much a return to their frustrating worst. Aguero aside, the creativity was nil and Ya Ya Toure once again went completely missing away from the safe confines of the Etihad. Vincent Kompany remains a big miss in these sort of fixtures, especially when the manager picks his other defenders by random generator. City are still in the hunt for the title, as if everyone down to 8th such is the tightness of the league and Arsenal’s history of implosion. But they cannot afford too many more of these performances if they are to still be in with a chance come May.
5. Jose still has the luck, if nothing else
A stuttering Chelsea salvaged a draw and preserved Jose’s implausible unbeaten home record in the process this weekend. The late penalty however, an absurdly generous decision which almost redefined the term “a homer,” could not mask the failings of the special one’s team for the second successive game. Chelsea did not, to all extensive purposes, improve their squad in the summer. They didn’t buy anyone of note up front, in central midfield or defence and instead littered their team with more inverted winger/number 10’s. This was a Chelsea team who did not challenge for the title in any way last year remember. A Chelsea team who’s best player, Juan Mata, can no longer get in the starting line up. Frank Lampard hasn’t scored since the opening day, a barren spell of 10 games for a player who historically averages a strike just over every 2. And now, finally, the defence is starting to concede again. John Terry’s “form” at the start of the season looked more like an anomaly of statistics than the farcical calls to get him back into the England team would have you believe. He has been terrible the last two games, showing his age and unable to prevent his team conceding 4 goals to Newcastle and West Brom. Many people, myself included, thought this was a great Chelsea squad that was underperforming. That the mere presence of Jose back in the dugout would be enough to see them claim another Premier League title in a wide open race. Of course, the latter statement still being true, they are far from out of it. But this is not a convincing second spell so far. Chelsea have not noticeably improved in any way from last season; and indeed look blunter going forward than they ever have. Whisper it... but Rafa Benitez was doing a better job.
https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey
Just 6 points separate 8 teams following Man Utd’s “hard fought” (Citation: painfully ground out) victory over Arsenal. Sky once again suffered a “Super Sunday” meltdown as three games featured successive 1 nil wins; whilst over at the Britannia the fans were treated to a 3-3 thriller featuring late drama, wonderful football and well, crucially, lots of goals. City’s away blues returned whilst it was another collective failure in front of goal for AVB’s men. Granted, Tim Krul had one of those games which keeper’s dream of, but Spurs have scored one goal in five hours of league football. And that was a penalty. It’s not entirely clear what Jermaine Defoe has to do to get a start in the league, presumably wear a Soldado mask or teleport into the misfiring Spaniard's body? All of which brought us to Old Trafford where we were all treated to the worst match of the season to date. Yep, even ones involving West Ham. Utd scored with just about the only chance of the game and that was through a set piece. Arsenal were horribly jaded and badly need some players back to rest the likes of Ozil, Ramsey and Giroud. Utd meanwhile, as they always seem to do against Arsenal, did enough to get the points and no more. Rooney was his usual self, RVP scored with his single touch of the ball all match, but other than that only Phil Jones can claim he played well of the 20 plus players who graced the pitch. Keeping Jones fit and playing every week is vital to Utd finishing in the top 4 each season. Not because he’s that good a player, but because he has the spirit of Fergie flowing through his veins. He never gives up or gives less than 100% every minute of every match. How Utd wish they could channel that sort of effort, commitment and focus from a collection of midfielders now so inept that I’m pretty sure Rooney is playing all of their positions for them. As we lunge into an international break (translation: reading week) with all the enthusiasm of Shinji Kagawa in a 50/50, let us consider for a moment that when we return Arsenal host Southampton. And if they lose that match... Saints will be top of the league. Rule Britannia.
2. Anfield is a fortress once more
5 wins from 6 and with 13 goals for to 3 against, Anfield is finally looking the home ground it was of yesteryear again. Since Rafa left, the problems with Liverpool have been countless, but few more so than the crumbling ruins that had become their home record. Rodgers finally looks to have arrested that slide; and only Southampton have come away with any points this season. Indeed, that result is looking for from an embarrassment given their current league placing. Liverpool were back in the groove on Saturday, dismantling a Fulham team which, in all honesty, my 6-a-side club could have beaten. Jol’s time looks up; his team are full of flair but lack honesty and fatal individual mistakes are creeping in at will. There are few strikers in the world, certainly this side of Ronaldo and Messi, who are capable of taking advantage of such flaws as Luis Suarez. I remain unconvinced by Suarez in the bigger fixtures, and some Champions League football would certainly do him no harm, but against anyone who is struggling he is ruthless. He is the home test, flat pitch Indian batting line up of footballers. If the conditions are right, there is no stopping him. Suarez took himself to the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts this weekend. Which is ridiculous given he missed the first five games through suspension. It was also nice to see the club keep a clean sheet again with Daniel Agger restored to the starting line up. Proof, once again, that the big bosses read the best blogs...
3. Cardiff need goals
Discussions over Cardiff city and relegation seem to have mostly passed like ships in the night thus far this season. The Welsh club have always managed to win a match when it looks like they might get in trouble, plus the failings of some of the teams below them have been more obvious or... well, interesting. The general consensus has been that as long as their owner doesn’t do anything stupid, Cardiff have enough organisation and defensive nous about them to stay up. That may or may not prove to be the case. Over 38 games, it remains goals that tend to keep you in a division rather than clean sheets, and right now Cardiff do not look like scoring very many. 9 in 11 games isn’t disastrous, but given 3 of those came in one absurd match... 6 in 10 really doesn’t look good at all. No striker has scored since that Man City game and their top scorer is currently a centre back. There is much to admire about Cardiff. They have a strong work ethic and seem to have a genuine relationship with their fans which several top flight clubs lack. But, crucially, they are fucking boring. And if there’s one thing this blog hates... it’s boring.
4. Man City really can’t win at Sunderland.
4 games... 4 one nil defeats. Man City cannot score at Sunderland let alone beat them. The big wolves from Manchester huffed and puffed on Sunday afternoon but once again were repelled by stoic defending, wonderful goalkeeping and some very bad luck. Sunderland, and the superb Wes Brown in particular, stood firm. This remains an impossible to predict season, a fact epitomised by Newcastle turning around their form with back to back clean sheet victories against Chelsea & Spurs. City must have thought they’d put their away form to bed with that thumping win at West Ham, but this was very much a return to their frustrating worst. Aguero aside, the creativity was nil and Ya Ya Toure once again went completely missing away from the safe confines of the Etihad. Vincent Kompany remains a big miss in these sort of fixtures, especially when the manager picks his other defenders by random generator. City are still in the hunt for the title, as if everyone down to 8th such is the tightness of the league and Arsenal’s history of implosion. But they cannot afford too many more of these performances if they are to still be in with a chance come May.
5. Jose still has the luck, if nothing else
A stuttering Chelsea salvaged a draw and preserved Jose’s implausible unbeaten home record in the process this weekend. The late penalty however, an absurdly generous decision which almost redefined the term “a homer,” could not mask the failings of the special one’s team for the second successive game. Chelsea did not, to all extensive purposes, improve their squad in the summer. They didn’t buy anyone of note up front, in central midfield or defence and instead littered their team with more inverted winger/number 10’s. This was a Chelsea team who did not challenge for the title in any way last year remember. A Chelsea team who’s best player, Juan Mata, can no longer get in the starting line up. Frank Lampard hasn’t scored since the opening day, a barren spell of 10 games for a player who historically averages a strike just over every 2. And now, finally, the defence is starting to concede again. John Terry’s “form” at the start of the season looked more like an anomaly of statistics than the farcical calls to get him back into the England team would have you believe. He has been terrible the last two games, showing his age and unable to prevent his team conceding 4 goals to Newcastle and West Brom. Many people, myself included, thought this was a great Chelsea squad that was underperforming. That the mere presence of Jose back in the dugout would be enough to see them claim another Premier League title in a wide open race. Of course, the latter statement still being true, they are far from out of it. But this is not a convincing second spell so far. Chelsea have not noticeably improved in any way from last season; and indeed look blunter going forward than they ever have. Whisper it... but Rafa Benitez was doing a better job.
https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey
Sunday, 3 November 2013
Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Ten
the concise, sleep deprived with sickly child edition
1. The fallen one trumped the special one.
Jose Mourinho has never won at Newcastle, and this weekend he was once again outdone in the grim, post-apocalyptic wasteland that is the North East. Alan Pardew is many things, questionably human being the first that springs to mind, but he remains a fine manager and this was a good a tactical performance as this season has yet offered. Pardew dropped his most creative player and instead played with highly disciplined wingers that tracked back and offered continuous cover to the defence. He matched up with Chelsea in midfield, dropping one of his strikers deep to pick up Lampard or Ramires and gave constant, fine tuning instructions to his troops throughout the match. Chelsea started well but appeared to give up after the break, as if lacking the mental nous to break down such stubborn resistance. Jose was lost as to why, but he shouldn’t have been. This was very much the Chelsea team who have finished 15-20 odd points off the pace for the past two years. This was Newcastle’s day and they, and their manager, deserve full credit for the win.
2. What are Crystal Palace doing?
Rock bottom and with little to no chance of survival anyway, you’d have thought Crystal Palace would have sped up their search for a manager a little by now? Since sounding out Tony Pulis they have turned their attention to Alex Mcleish (for no reason) and Chris Coleman (for literally no reason). Pulis is a hugely unlikeable manager, both in terms of persona and playing style. But at least he’s decent at his job and is a miles better option than those two? They also spoke to Martin O’Neill. A call which probably lasted about three seconds. Perhaps they’ll just give it to Millen for the hell of it. Palace’s squad is just about the worst I’ve ever seen in a Premiership and if they stay up this year it will be the footballing equivalent of the Titanic emerging from the sea 100 years later with everyone on board alive and well. I mean... Marouane Chamakh. Why Palace? Why?
3. Why can’t Daniel Agger get a game?
Liverpool started the season with a centre back duo of Agger & Toure and kept three, successive clean sheets. Following an injury Agger then missed the next game and only played part of the one after. Since then though, he has been fit as a fiddle and benched for five games on the spin. Two further things have also happened in the 7 games since his injury. Firstly, Liverpool have changed to playing 3 centre backs rather than 2. Secondly, they have not once kept a clean sheet. Is Rodgers suggesting that Agger cannot play in a back 3/5 and only in a 4? Or has he genuinely forgotten the Dane is comfortably the best defender at the club? Given how flat footed Liverpool’s defence was on Saturday, it is fast becoming an inexplicable omission that almost nobody seems to be mentioning.
4. Aston Villa lack creativity of any description.
West Ham being involved in a 0-0 draw with anyone isn’t news (4 out of 10 matches so far... expansive) - but whilst Villa have taken big strides to shore up last seasons leaky defence, they seem to have done it at the expense of going forward. They created next to nothing on Saturday and have now scored in just one of their last six games. Indeed, they haven’t scored at all in over 6 hours. Paul Lambert needs bodies back and fast. And he needs to make someone to supply the goals to Benteke the absolute priority in January. Villa’s new found resilience will probably be enough to keep them up, but the big Belgian won’t be around again come the summer if he is starved of service to this level.
5. The stats never lie.
I’m so tired I’m now barely capable of speech, so instead of a final point here is the Opta/Premier League Stats team of the season so far. Based on algebraic formulas that nobody understands... and goals. Mostly just scoring goals.
Boruc
Walker Lovren Fonte Vertonghen
Ramsey Ya Ya Toure Lallana
Aguero Rooney Sturridge
https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey
1. The fallen one trumped the special one.
Jose Mourinho has never won at Newcastle, and this weekend he was once again outdone in the grim, post-apocalyptic wasteland that is the North East. Alan Pardew is many things, questionably human being the first that springs to mind, but he remains a fine manager and this was a good a tactical performance as this season has yet offered. Pardew dropped his most creative player and instead played with highly disciplined wingers that tracked back and offered continuous cover to the defence. He matched up with Chelsea in midfield, dropping one of his strikers deep to pick up Lampard or Ramires and gave constant, fine tuning instructions to his troops throughout the match. Chelsea started well but appeared to give up after the break, as if lacking the mental nous to break down such stubborn resistance. Jose was lost as to why, but he shouldn’t have been. This was very much the Chelsea team who have finished 15-20 odd points off the pace for the past two years. This was Newcastle’s day and they, and their manager, deserve full credit for the win.
2. What are Crystal Palace doing?
Rock bottom and with little to no chance of survival anyway, you’d have thought Crystal Palace would have sped up their search for a manager a little by now? Since sounding out Tony Pulis they have turned their attention to Alex Mcleish (for no reason) and Chris Coleman (for literally no reason). Pulis is a hugely unlikeable manager, both in terms of persona and playing style. But at least he’s decent at his job and is a miles better option than those two? They also spoke to Martin O’Neill. A call which probably lasted about three seconds. Perhaps they’ll just give it to Millen for the hell of it. Palace’s squad is just about the worst I’ve ever seen in a Premiership and if they stay up this year it will be the footballing equivalent of the Titanic emerging from the sea 100 years later with everyone on board alive and well. I mean... Marouane Chamakh. Why Palace? Why?
3. Why can’t Daniel Agger get a game?
Liverpool started the season with a centre back duo of Agger & Toure and kept three, successive clean sheets. Following an injury Agger then missed the next game and only played part of the one after. Since then though, he has been fit as a fiddle and benched for five games on the spin. Two further things have also happened in the 7 games since his injury. Firstly, Liverpool have changed to playing 3 centre backs rather than 2. Secondly, they have not once kept a clean sheet. Is Rodgers suggesting that Agger cannot play in a back 3/5 and only in a 4? Or has he genuinely forgotten the Dane is comfortably the best defender at the club? Given how flat footed Liverpool’s defence was on Saturday, it is fast becoming an inexplicable omission that almost nobody seems to be mentioning.
4. Aston Villa lack creativity of any description.
West Ham being involved in a 0-0 draw with anyone isn’t news (4 out of 10 matches so far... expansive) - but whilst Villa have taken big strides to shore up last seasons leaky defence, they seem to have done it at the expense of going forward. They created next to nothing on Saturday and have now scored in just one of their last six games. Indeed, they haven’t scored at all in over 6 hours. Paul Lambert needs bodies back and fast. And he needs to make someone to supply the goals to Benteke the absolute priority in January. Villa’s new found resilience will probably be enough to keep them up, but the big Belgian won’t be around again come the summer if he is starved of service to this level.
5. The stats never lie.
I’m so tired I’m now barely capable of speech, so instead of a final point here is the Opta/Premier League Stats team of the season so far. Based on algebraic formulas that nobody understands... and goals. Mostly just scoring goals.
Boruc
Walker Lovren Fonte Vertonghen
Ramsey Ya Ya Toure Lallana
Aguero Rooney Sturridge
https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey
Monday, 28 October 2013
Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Nine
1. Is the Partnership back in fashion?
One of the things that interests me most in football is how formations come and go over time. I grew up very much in the 4-4-2 era before modern shifts placed more emphasis on midfield and creativity. Nowadays, most teams line up in a 4-5-1/4-3-3. This season there has been a bit of a shift backwards though, particularly of late. Indeed, there have been almost twice as many goals scored in the last 5 game weeks as there were in the first 4 and, whilst we can’t credit them all to Luis Suarez... he has certainly helped. Sturridge & Suarez looks a real partnership in every sense of the word. They feed off each other, create space for each other and have currently scored ten goals in four games together. Elsewhere, Man City had blossomed with the Aguero/Negrado axis before dropping it this weekend and dropping three points. Swansea have pushed Michu up alongside Bony to good effect and lower down the league Norwich, Fulham, West Brom and Newcastle have all been played 2 up for most of the season. And then there is RVP & Rooney, lauded by Hansen this weekend as the most fearsome partnership in the Premier League. In short, what utter tosh. RVP and Rooney are phenomenal players, but they are not a partnership. Indeed, the Utd striker conundrum is a good example of how important a partnership is. Good partnerships don’t just score goals, they create space for their team mates, work defensively and offensively and set the tone and balance of the whole team. Utd could lay claim to having the three best strikers in the whole league if you look at finishing (RVP), the number 10 (Rooney) and the super sub (Hernandez). But none of the three work together and Man Utd’s lightweight midfield is struggling as a result. It is no surprise that all of Utd’s good performances this season have come in cup games (and the first match vs Swansea) when one of Rooney or RVP have been absent. Ferguson knew this. It is why he bought Kagawa and it is why he tried to push Rooney out of the club. Moyes, ailing as he is, is faced with an impossible problem. Dropping one of his only two genuine world class players for the sake of the balance of the team. He won’t do it of course, and Utd will continue to struggle to dominate games. Even if, ironically, because the said two players are that good... they may well still bail them out of enough games with moments of genius.
2. West Ham. If in doubt... play no strikers at all.
Of course there is always the other option to playing 4-4-2 (or in Liverpool’s case, what appears to be 2-3-1-1-1-2) - and that is going away to the might of Swansea and playing with no strikers whatsoever. Now I’m the Swans biggest fan these days, but going to the Liberty Stadium is not like going away to Man City (previously Man Utd). Indeed, Swansea have a better record away from home this season. Big Sam of course, spent most of the summer buying the same player over and over again (average winger, who can cross sometimes) in order to feed his Plan A - Carroll & Nolan. West Ham’s Plan B hasn’t really got going this season, that freak, planet aligning Spurs result aside. Sure they’re defensively sound, as any team managed by Big Sam would be. But they’ve scored less than a goal a game even including that Norton Coin moment at White Hart Lane. Big Sam had one thing in mind this weekend. Kill the game and hope for a long shot to go in to sneak the points. Part one happened and as part two didn’t, the game was as much of a wash out as the weather. It’s ok though, soon we’re have Tony Pulis back in the league again as well...
3. How far can Saints really go?
Can anyone explain this one, very simple point to me? Fitness issues aside, of which there should be none at the highest level, why don’t more teams press? I mean, people can look at Barca and Spain all they want and say “we’ll never be able to pass the ball like that” - and they’ll probably be correct. But the thing both teams also do so well is harry you all over the pitch to get the ball back once they’ve lost it. Man Utd would sometimes do it under Ferguson, like wise Chelsea under Jose. Arsenal, to name but one team at random, never do it. The mind boggles how good they might be if they did. (Citation: Flamini has been doing it great this year, and they have already struggled badly in the last two games without him). All of which brings us to Southampton. Who press the hell out of you, defend in numbers, are organised in every position and can hit you on the break just as well as from a set piece. The Saints are 5th in the league at the end of it’s first quarter and still boast the best defensive record in Europe. In. Europe. They are ahead of both Manchester clubs and play two of the bottom four next up. What’s more, is that they’re not reliant on any one player. I mentioned a month ago about how they were achieving all this with English players and it’s a point worth reiterating following the weekend. Both of their goals were made in England with Lambert, Jay Rodriquez and Adam Lallana directly involved. Indeed, Saints front four were all English and all played exceptionally well. I don’t expect them to finish the season in the top spots, but a European place remains an outside bet if they carry on playing like this. If they get anywhere near that come May they will deserve every accolade going and their manager needs to be consulted by every young coach in the land about how to get their team playing like this. With... er... a translator.
4. Do Spurs feel lucky?
The league table doesn’t lie is the old chestnut. Perhaps at the end of the season, but right now it puts Spurs in 4th and just 3 points behind Arsenal. You have to go down to Man Utd in 8th to find anyone playing worse than AVB’s side, yet there they remain thanks to the brilliance of Hugo Loris and continuous Roberto Soldado penalties. Spurs have had an easy start, of the two tough games they have played, they have just a point from. They have won half of their games 1 nil and have scored just 4 goals, discounting penalties. But, like Man Utd in the past, they seem to so far have the one quality that you also need to make you champions. Luck. Spurs are not playing fluent football, although they are highly organised. It probably shouldn’t be a surprise given over half the entire team has been changed and, it is worth noting, they didn’t play well for the last ten games of last season either. Then they had Bale to bail them out. Now they have fortuitous penalty decisions. As with Arsenal, the next month should tell us whether Spurs are serious title contenders, or vying for the last champions league spot with an increasingly large number of other clubs. They play Everton and Man City away and Man Utd at home in their next four league matches. Of course, there is an argument that Spurs are being unlucky rather than the other way around. They are dominating games and perhaps it’s only a matter of time before they start opening up and beating teams by 3 or 4 every week? That’s not an argument I’me going to make. But someone could...
5. Where’s the heart Gareth, I can’t see it...
Given I’m bashing Spurs for a change, I’ll round off this week’s elongated blog with a short entry on everyones favourite Simian.
Gareth... it’s not going well is it. That is all.
https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey
One of the things that interests me most in football is how formations come and go over time. I grew up very much in the 4-4-2 era before modern shifts placed more emphasis on midfield and creativity. Nowadays, most teams line up in a 4-5-1/4-3-3. This season there has been a bit of a shift backwards though, particularly of late. Indeed, there have been almost twice as many goals scored in the last 5 game weeks as there were in the first 4 and, whilst we can’t credit them all to Luis Suarez... he has certainly helped. Sturridge & Suarez looks a real partnership in every sense of the word. They feed off each other, create space for each other and have currently scored ten goals in four games together. Elsewhere, Man City had blossomed with the Aguero/Negrado axis before dropping it this weekend and dropping three points. Swansea have pushed Michu up alongside Bony to good effect and lower down the league Norwich, Fulham, West Brom and Newcastle have all been played 2 up for most of the season. And then there is RVP & Rooney, lauded by Hansen this weekend as the most fearsome partnership in the Premier League. In short, what utter tosh. RVP and Rooney are phenomenal players, but they are not a partnership. Indeed, the Utd striker conundrum is a good example of how important a partnership is. Good partnerships don’t just score goals, they create space for their team mates, work defensively and offensively and set the tone and balance of the whole team. Utd could lay claim to having the three best strikers in the whole league if you look at finishing (RVP), the number 10 (Rooney) and the super sub (Hernandez). But none of the three work together and Man Utd’s lightweight midfield is struggling as a result. It is no surprise that all of Utd’s good performances this season have come in cup games (and the first match vs Swansea) when one of Rooney or RVP have been absent. Ferguson knew this. It is why he bought Kagawa and it is why he tried to push Rooney out of the club. Moyes, ailing as he is, is faced with an impossible problem. Dropping one of his only two genuine world class players for the sake of the balance of the team. He won’t do it of course, and Utd will continue to struggle to dominate games. Even if, ironically, because the said two players are that good... they may well still bail them out of enough games with moments of genius.
2. West Ham. If in doubt... play no strikers at all.
Of course there is always the other option to playing 4-4-2 (or in Liverpool’s case, what appears to be 2-3-1-1-1-2) - and that is going away to the might of Swansea and playing with no strikers whatsoever. Now I’m the Swans biggest fan these days, but going to the Liberty Stadium is not like going away to Man City (previously Man Utd). Indeed, Swansea have a better record away from home this season. Big Sam of course, spent most of the summer buying the same player over and over again (average winger, who can cross sometimes) in order to feed his Plan A - Carroll & Nolan. West Ham’s Plan B hasn’t really got going this season, that freak, planet aligning Spurs result aside. Sure they’re defensively sound, as any team managed by Big Sam would be. But they’ve scored less than a goal a game even including that Norton Coin moment at White Hart Lane. Big Sam had one thing in mind this weekend. Kill the game and hope for a long shot to go in to sneak the points. Part one happened and as part two didn’t, the game was as much of a wash out as the weather. It’s ok though, soon we’re have Tony Pulis back in the league again as well...
3. How far can Saints really go?
Can anyone explain this one, very simple point to me? Fitness issues aside, of which there should be none at the highest level, why don’t more teams press? I mean, people can look at Barca and Spain all they want and say “we’ll never be able to pass the ball like that” - and they’ll probably be correct. But the thing both teams also do so well is harry you all over the pitch to get the ball back once they’ve lost it. Man Utd would sometimes do it under Ferguson, like wise Chelsea under Jose. Arsenal, to name but one team at random, never do it. The mind boggles how good they might be if they did. (Citation: Flamini has been doing it great this year, and they have already struggled badly in the last two games without him). All of which brings us to Southampton. Who press the hell out of you, defend in numbers, are organised in every position and can hit you on the break just as well as from a set piece. The Saints are 5th in the league at the end of it’s first quarter and still boast the best defensive record in Europe. In. Europe. They are ahead of both Manchester clubs and play two of the bottom four next up. What’s more, is that they’re not reliant on any one player. I mentioned a month ago about how they were achieving all this with English players and it’s a point worth reiterating following the weekend. Both of their goals were made in England with Lambert, Jay Rodriquez and Adam Lallana directly involved. Indeed, Saints front four were all English and all played exceptionally well. I don’t expect them to finish the season in the top spots, but a European place remains an outside bet if they carry on playing like this. If they get anywhere near that come May they will deserve every accolade going and their manager needs to be consulted by every young coach in the land about how to get their team playing like this. With... er... a translator.
4. Do Spurs feel lucky?
The league table doesn’t lie is the old chestnut. Perhaps at the end of the season, but right now it puts Spurs in 4th and just 3 points behind Arsenal. You have to go down to Man Utd in 8th to find anyone playing worse than AVB’s side, yet there they remain thanks to the brilliance of Hugo Loris and continuous Roberto Soldado penalties. Spurs have had an easy start, of the two tough games they have played, they have just a point from. They have won half of their games 1 nil and have scored just 4 goals, discounting penalties. But, like Man Utd in the past, they seem to so far have the one quality that you also need to make you champions. Luck. Spurs are not playing fluent football, although they are highly organised. It probably shouldn’t be a surprise given over half the entire team has been changed and, it is worth noting, they didn’t play well for the last ten games of last season either. Then they had Bale to bail them out. Now they have fortuitous penalty decisions. As with Arsenal, the next month should tell us whether Spurs are serious title contenders, or vying for the last champions league spot with an increasingly large number of other clubs. They play Everton and Man City away and Man Utd at home in their next four league matches. Of course, there is an argument that Spurs are being unlucky rather than the other way around. They are dominating games and perhaps it’s only a matter of time before they start opening up and beating teams by 3 or 4 every week? That’s not an argument I’me going to make. But someone could...
5. Where’s the heart Gareth, I can’t see it...
Given I’m bashing Spurs for a change, I’ll round off this week’s elongated blog with a short entry on everyones favourite Simian.
Gareth... it’s not going well is it. That is all.
https://twitter.com/HinduMonkey
Sunday, 20 October 2013
Five Things We Learnt From Watching Football This Weekend - Week Eight
1. Arsenal’s opening
goal was worthy of any stage
Arsenal managed to take their intimidating start to the season to new levels this weekend with a three act play worthy of any bard. The second, the tragedy, flirted with an improbable comeback before the heart stopping third combined pace, artistry and clinical finishing leaving the audience in raptures. But I’m here to talk about Act One. The score sheet will simply record the details Wilshere, 18 by it. But such words could never do justice to a goal that was sent from all the gods themselves. Team goals rarely get as much praise as individual pile drivers do; and in a sense that’s right. Argentina’s famous 25 passes goal sounded impressive… but let’s be honest, it was dull to actually watch. Passing football is at its best when it is so quick it takes the breath away. Usually only Barca and Spain are capable of this fast paced tiki-taka, with the other great teams of recent times relying on quick counter attacking (Man Utd, Real Madrid), resilience and strength (Chelsea) or being German (Dortmund, Munich). Wilshire’s strike against Norwich combined some of the most ridiculous first touches you’ll likely to see. The build up to the build up was good enough, but the build up to the goal itself between Santi, Giroud and Wilshere was jaw dropping. Hell, Arsenal deserve to win the title for this goal alone. Sure they’ll get injuries, run out of steam and probably fade away come May. But for every Arsenal fan come the end of the season… at least they’ll have this.
Arsenal managed to take their intimidating start to the season to new levels this weekend with a three act play worthy of any bard. The second, the tragedy, flirted with an improbable comeback before the heart stopping third combined pace, artistry and clinical finishing leaving the audience in raptures. But I’m here to talk about Act One. The score sheet will simply record the details Wilshere, 18 by it. But such words could never do justice to a goal that was sent from all the gods themselves. Team goals rarely get as much praise as individual pile drivers do; and in a sense that’s right. Argentina’s famous 25 passes goal sounded impressive… but let’s be honest, it was dull to actually watch. Passing football is at its best when it is so quick it takes the breath away. Usually only Barca and Spain are capable of this fast paced tiki-taka, with the other great teams of recent times relying on quick counter attacking (Man Utd, Real Madrid), resilience and strength (Chelsea) or being German (Dortmund, Munich). Wilshire’s strike against Norwich combined some of the most ridiculous first touches you’ll likely to see. The build up to the build up was good enough, but the build up to the goal itself between Santi, Giroud and Wilshere was jaw dropping. Hell, Arsenal deserve to win the title for this goal alone. Sure they’ll get injuries, run out of steam and probably fade away come May. But for every Arsenal fan come the end of the season… at least they’ll have this.
(which doesn’t even feature the outrageous bit of skill in
his own half to set the move going)
2. City finally
banish away blues
With 1 point from 9 following on from last season’s tame effort; much has already been written about Manchester City’s away day blues. The jury is still out on Pellegrini’s team after they almost let West Ham back into things, but in truth this was a routine away win from a squad who should be clear favourites to win this year’s title. Chelsea and seemingly Arsenal remain key challengers, but neither of those teams possesses anyone in the class of Sergio Aguero. Despite being prone to incessant niggling injuries, Aguero has scored 43 goals in the 72 Premier League games he has played for City. A record bested by nobody who hasn’t played for Man Utd during that time. The core of City’s team is better than anyone and with David Silva sparkling again, Nasri having refound his mojo and the return of Micah “the human wall” Richards; few would bet against them retaining their title come May. Much of that will depend on results such as this though. City retain the ability to switch off at any moment and seem to genuinely consider Javi Garcia to be a better defender than Joleen Lescott. On their day, they remain unbeatable. Capable of scoring in a blink of an eye and out muscling anyone. Their fans will hope this win goes some way to banishing their away day blues and kicks them on to bigger and greater things once more.
With 1 point from 9 following on from last season’s tame effort; much has already been written about Manchester City’s away day blues. The jury is still out on Pellegrini’s team after they almost let West Ham back into things, but in truth this was a routine away win from a squad who should be clear favourites to win this year’s title. Chelsea and seemingly Arsenal remain key challengers, but neither of those teams possesses anyone in the class of Sergio Aguero. Despite being prone to incessant niggling injuries, Aguero has scored 43 goals in the 72 Premier League games he has played for City. A record bested by nobody who hasn’t played for Man Utd during that time. The core of City’s team is better than anyone and with David Silva sparkling again, Nasri having refound his mojo and the return of Micah “the human wall” Richards; few would bet against them retaining their title come May. Much of that will depend on results such as this though. City retain the ability to switch off at any moment and seem to genuinely consider Javi Garcia to be a better defender than Joleen Lescott. On their day, they remain unbeatable. Capable of scoring in a blink of an eye and out muscling anyone. Their fans will hope this win goes some way to banishing their away day blues and kicks them on to bigger and greater things once more.
3. Writing about
Stoke City doesn’t get any easier
People like Mark Hughes. They want him to succeed. No honestly. I know this to be true why? Because um… Mark Hughes says so. Need more proof? Well… um… er… how about the fact that after starting the season with some vague promise Stoke have defaulted instantly to their old ways? What about the fact that their best player remains their goalkeeper, who single-handedly keeps them in every single match they play? Or their goals for column!? Four in eight games! One in the last SIX HOURS. That’s worth shouting about isn’t it? What about Peter Crouch? He scored that amazing goal against Man City didn’t he!? Was that the last time he actually scored? I think it might be. Was that the last time Stoke scored? No, no… that cheeky chappy Jermaine Pennant popped up a few weeks ago didn’t he? Oh wait, that’s it. Jermaine Pennant! Everybody loves him! That must have been what Hughes was on about when he said people want him to succeed!?
People like Mark Hughes. They want him to succeed. No honestly. I know this to be true why? Because um… Mark Hughes says so. Need more proof? Well… um… er… how about the fact that after starting the season with some vague promise Stoke have defaulted instantly to their old ways? What about the fact that their best player remains their goalkeeper, who single-handedly keeps them in every single match they play? Or their goals for column!? Four in eight games! One in the last SIX HOURS. That’s worth shouting about isn’t it? What about Peter Crouch? He scored that amazing goal against Man City didn’t he!? Was that the last time he actually scored? I think it might be. Was that the last time Stoke scored? No, no… that cheeky chappy Jermaine Pennant popped up a few weeks ago didn’t he? Oh wait, that’s it. Jermaine Pennant! Everybody loves him! That must have been what Hughes was on about when he said people want him to succeed!?
Mark. Nobody wants Stoke to succeed. Or you to succeed.
Except Stoke fans. And you.
Infact probably just you.
You twat
4. Roberto Martinez is doing a very good job
Four points off top, four points above Man Utd and just one defeat in 8 games. Roberto Martinez has taken a lot less time to settle in his new role than David Moyes has. Unlike Utd, Everton have retained the qualities of their departing manager whilst adding new ones into the mix. Martinez had a reputation for poor defensive management at Wigan, but Everton currently look as good as ever in that regard. The back five picks itself and it’s a solid, dependable unit full of attacking thrust from the flanks. What the Spaniard has added, is fluent, passing football combined with genuine movement. Barkley has been a revelation this season and there is a certain irony that the area where Utd continue to struggle the most is the main area Everton have strengthened in. The new look midfield of McCarthy, Barry and Barkley looks better than any combination Moyes’ new team can put together and Everton are starting to control games as well as win them. Everton fans cannot have expected this in their wildest dreams. Whilst Utd fans clung to what are fast becoming very false hopes and belief in a squad quite clearly not good enough, Evertonians spoke of a slide from any European challenge and some even mentioned relegation. That looks absurd right now. The season remains young, with 30 games still to play. But three months ago you would have been put in an asylum for suggesting Everton would finish above Man Utd this year. Injuries permitting, it now looks more like even money.
4. Roberto Martinez is doing a very good job
Four points off top, four points above Man Utd and just one defeat in 8 games. Roberto Martinez has taken a lot less time to settle in his new role than David Moyes has. Unlike Utd, Everton have retained the qualities of their departing manager whilst adding new ones into the mix. Martinez had a reputation for poor defensive management at Wigan, but Everton currently look as good as ever in that regard. The back five picks itself and it’s a solid, dependable unit full of attacking thrust from the flanks. What the Spaniard has added, is fluent, passing football combined with genuine movement. Barkley has been a revelation this season and there is a certain irony that the area where Utd continue to struggle the most is the main area Everton have strengthened in. The new look midfield of McCarthy, Barry and Barkley looks better than any combination Moyes’ new team can put together and Everton are starting to control games as well as win them. Everton fans cannot have expected this in their wildest dreams. Whilst Utd fans clung to what are fast becoming very false hopes and belief in a squad quite clearly not good enough, Evertonians spoke of a slide from any European challenge and some even mentioned relegation. That looks absurd right now. The season remains young, with 30 games still to play. But three months ago you would have been put in an asylum for suggesting Everton would finish above Man Utd this year. Injuries permitting, it now looks more like even money.
5. Watching England was almost fun again…
And so England are going to Brazil. And the whole country waits… and expects… well not much this time actually. If there is one thing Roy Hodgson deserves credit for, it’s managing the expectations of England fans so that even the most deluded follower of St George doesn’t believe we can win it. None of which should take away from some of the good work that Hodgson has done. After a slow start to the group England eased to the top of the table with two convincing victories against sub rate opposition (waves flag). If Roy wanted to get England to the moon, he found the right Space Monkey for the job (sorry). The best thing about Andros Townsend’s performances last week wasn't his ability or youthful abandon, is what that he approached the games without fear or apprehension and that rubbed off on all the other players. England played some of their best attacking football in years and much of it went through the freshman astronaut (sorry again). England can’t win the World Cup, but they have earned the right to be there and not being seeded will at least put to bed some of the ludicrous delusions of grandeur. We have some very good young players, mixed with experienced old heads. People who talk of our centre backs not having proved it at the highest level seem to have misplaced the knowledge that our number one defender, Gary Cahill, started, played and won the Champions League final and Europa final in successive seasons. If that isn’t proving it at the highest level, I’m not sure what is. Gerrard seems to have finally settled into the setup as the elder statesmen and he has proved himself a dependable captain. A team of Hart, Walker, Jones, Cahill, Gibbs, Wilshire, Barkley, Townsend, Welbeck, Rooney and Sturridge could well get to the Quarter Finals and all would be under 27. Add in Gerrard, Cole, Baines, Walcott and for no possible reason that I can fathom… Jermaine Defoe. And England are going to… ah who I am kidding. I don’t even care.
And so England are going to Brazil. And the whole country waits… and expects… well not much this time actually. If there is one thing Roy Hodgson deserves credit for, it’s managing the expectations of England fans so that even the most deluded follower of St George doesn’t believe we can win it. None of which should take away from some of the good work that Hodgson has done. After a slow start to the group England eased to the top of the table with two convincing victories against sub rate opposition (waves flag). If Roy wanted to get England to the moon, he found the right Space Monkey for the job (sorry). The best thing about Andros Townsend’s performances last week wasn't his ability or youthful abandon, is what that he approached the games without fear or apprehension and that rubbed off on all the other players. England played some of their best attacking football in years and much of it went through the freshman astronaut (sorry again). England can’t win the World Cup, but they have earned the right to be there and not being seeded will at least put to bed some of the ludicrous delusions of grandeur. We have some very good young players, mixed with experienced old heads. People who talk of our centre backs not having proved it at the highest level seem to have misplaced the knowledge that our number one defender, Gary Cahill, started, played and won the Champions League final and Europa final in successive seasons. If that isn’t proving it at the highest level, I’m not sure what is. Gerrard seems to have finally settled into the setup as the elder statesmen and he has proved himself a dependable captain. A team of Hart, Walker, Jones, Cahill, Gibbs, Wilshire, Barkley, Townsend, Welbeck, Rooney and Sturridge could well get to the Quarter Finals and all would be under 27. Add in Gerrard, Cole, Baines, Walcott and for no possible reason that I can fathom… Jermaine Defoe. And England are going to… ah who I am kidding. I don’t even care.
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