Football Orphan: The pressure is building in the Premier League…
This weekends Premier League fixtures throw up a few intriguing match up’s. The centre piece of the action will be served up at Anfield, where Manchester City take on Liverpool. City will be fresh from their midweek disappointment in Naples, and will be either a “wounded animal” or wallowing in self-pity come Sunday afternoon. Dalglish’s men on the other hand will be buzzing after a fine performance at Stamford Bridge to send Roman Abramovich scampering for the location of AVB’s P45, just in case. The league leaders have only dropped 2 points so far this season and the law of averages will favour City dropping more points in the coming games. I don’t see City taking all the shares from Merseyside in the circumstances, I’ll stick my neck out and say that Liverpool will enjoy upsetting another one of the big boys and end Mancini’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season.
Fresh from losing their own unbeaten record, Newcastle face a daunting trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United. If United fail to overcome the Geordies, serious questions will be asked of Fergie’s men having leaked so many goals this season, whilst stuttering their way through their Champions League campaign. Alan Pardew has been a revelation in the North East this season so much so that, in sections of the english media he has been touted as a possible successor to Fabio Cappello. For me, this smacks of flavour of the month in a similar vein to when Steve Mcclaren was appointed. It would be impossible to see a defeat for United at home, in fact Ferguson’s team are at their most dangerous when they’ve had a shaky result such as the calamity of the 2-2 against Benfica on Wednesday. I’ll plump for a comfortable home win on this one.
At the other end of the table I fear for certain clubs this weekend as we might see one or two being cut adrift so early in the season. In previous years we’ve witnessed the likes of Sunderland, Derby County stare relegation in the face from the starters’ pistol. This time around I believe it’s Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers who will entertain this notion untill the last whistle of the season. Both will in my opinion be on the other end of an away day hiding as both Stoke and Sunderland are certain to steady the ship after a little early season turbulence.
Other games don’t look so clear-cut, so gamblers beware of the likes of Swansea entertaining Villa, Everton at the Reebok to face Bolton, Norwich at home to QPR and Champions League chasing Tottenham away to West Brom. If the majority of these games don’t end in stalemate, they’ll only be won by the odd goal. Last but not least, the late kick off on Saturday see’s a Fulham team lacking any sort of continuity, travel to the Emirates to attempt to upset Arsenal. This is potentially the trickiest fixture of the weekend to call. While Wenger’s men have qualified for the knock out stages of the Champions League with a game to spare, Fulham tend to blow a little hot and cold against The Gunners. Arsenal supporters will be hoping that this the former of the two come Saturday evening.
Football Orphan: Arsenal bore us into submission as Valencia slump in Leverkusen.
Just like the rest of us, Arsene was calling for the final whistle.
Arsenal emerged from the carnage of what was Matchday 3 with all three points from Stade Velodrome against Marseille. Unbelievably, this round of matches provided us with the most dire and uneventful ninety minutes seen at this level as far as my memory can stretch back. Only the introduction of Arron Ramsey saved us from total boredom last night as he ghosted in behind the Marseille back four to finish calmly right at the death to sicken a defensive minded Didier Deschamps. Arsene Wenger will now patch up his ever-changing make shift eleven to entertain Marseille at the Emirates on Matchday four, where they can secure their passage through to the knockout stages.
Football Orphan predicted 2-0 to Arsenal. Not too far away, in the end it was just nice to hear the shrill of the final whistle.
In the other game of consequence at the BayArena, Bayer Leverkusen came from one down to beat Valencia to strengthen their grip on qualification past the group stage. Jonas opened the scoring after 20 minutes before a second half quick fire double by Andre Schurrle, then four mins later Sidney Sam finished calmly to secure all three points for the Germans. Valencia now sit four points off qualification with two of their remaining three games at the Mestalla. Home form will be vital for the spanish side who look to clinch a top two spot in Group E, as Chelsea look almost certain to secure first place.
Football Orphan predicted 3-1 to Valencia, Wrong! Bayer Leverkusen upset the odds to heap the pressure on Valencia.
Football Orphan: Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Is Arsene Wenger the genius we all thought he was, or just the Wizard of Oz? Last Friday the Frenchman gave what was possibly his most forthright press conference to date. The Arsenal Supporters Trust have recently expressed their disappointment at not having won a trophy in the last six years.
When questioned about this Wenger became defensive, he stated that given the players he has at his disposal, the team has performed to 100% of their potential. He turned the question back on the journalists, asking what they thought constitutes as success? The response was clear. A trophy.
Wenger alluded to the fact that many of the first eleven have not quite reached their prime. It seems to be a mystery why the Arsenal manager insists on having players the wrong side of their prime. Bringing back Jens Lehman and Sol Campbell when it was obvious that neither were up to the level required was ludicrous, and is blatantly against Wenger’s transfer policy of re-signing players.
It appears to be easy to poke holes in Arsenal’s recent success, or lack of. That fact of the matter is that since the heady days of the invincibles, Arsene Wenger has greatly over achieved with many players who quite simply are sub standard. Instead of being impressed further at these achievements, we expect more. Is the expectation founded upon the history and tradition of the club? Or the unwavering faith that Wenger has in his players?
The real reason why larger amounts of money haven’t been spent in the transfer market have never really come to light. We can only speculate about why Arsenal’s short arms haven’t reached into their deep pockets to strengthen in certain positions that are screaming out to be filled. The Frenchman’s mantra has always been to judge his teams at the end of the season.
There is no doubt in my mind that Arsene Wenger has revolutionized football in England, and is one of the finest managers of all time. The displeasure that the Arsenal Supporters Trust have shown recently leads me to believe, that they feel the manager is digging himself a hole that is becoming more difficult to escape from. My message to the Supporters Trust is simple, be careful what you wish for…..
Football Orphan: Do the English media suffer from OCD?
This season it has been almost impossible to pick up a newspaper or watch the sports news without hearing about Jack Wilshere. The Arsenal midfielder made an impressive start to the season and justified Arsene Wenger‘s faith in the youngster. As his progression gathered momentum, predictably so did his media attention.
The only relief Wilshere enjoys from the relentless attention is when £35 million man Andy Carroll gets a mention. These days the English media are spoiled for choice for their own international players to heap pressure on, only to get good copy from them. Whether it’s the genius or failings of Theo Walcott, or which goalkeeper will embarrass himself next. I’m sure some of the usual suspects were delighted to get a break from the limelight for the two-week rumblings of the captaincy saga. It all comes full circle now that the under 21’s coach Stuart Pearce wants Wilshere for the Euro Championships, and the media are like a dog with bone.
When did all of the attention ever help players in this position before? The list goes on and on of players that could have thrived had they been left to mature away from the watchful eye of the media sharks. Some can handle it, others fall by the wayside, but dealing with the media pressure shouldn’t be a prerequisite to be an international player.
David Beckham is the best example of someone who revels in the spotlight using it as a catalyst to promote his own celebrity, and to a lesser degree it has been the same with Ashley Cole. There are also cases when players don’t help themselves. Wayne Rooney‘s career is a mine field of faux pas and media invitation. While it is their job to report major incident, as football fans they would see it as the pinnacle of their career to report on their very own World Cup winners.
The media tossed aside Michael Owen as injuries blighted his shining star. Paul Gascoigne is still sliding on the slippery slope of fame and stardom, and is likely to be declared bankrupt in less than two weeks. So when will the penny drop that it is counter productive to the players? The answer to this age-old conundrum lies within another question, when will the inclusion of the high-profile players in the column inches stop selling newspapers?
Football Orphan: Top coaches managing to make their mark below the elite.
For the vast majority of football supporters in the UK and Ireland the Premier League is the centre of the universe, while some of us can only dream of our club amongst the elite. Generally speaking, if your club isn’t competing at least as high as the Championship, you’re lucky to even see the result on Saturday evening.
However this season in particular the level of top class managers in League One alone is astounding. Sitting top of the table with Brighton is Gus Poyet. Only a catastrophe will prevent them entering their brand new stadium as a championship club. After the debacle of his brief time at Spurs as assistant manager, he has recovered well and shown he’s more than capable of managing at a higher level.
Not far behind with Huddersfield Town is former Newcastle United player Lee Clark. Some of the bigger clubs have been linked with the very impressive Geordie, but he has so far resisted the lure to move on to continue his education and rapid progress with the Yorkshire club. The Terriers currently occupy second place and are a good bet to secure it come season end.
Former Premier League managers Peter Reid, Gary Megson and Paul Ince are employed by Plymouth Argyle, Sheffield Wednesday and Notts County. None of which will come even remotely close to challenging at the business end of the table.
Russell Slade is one of the highlights of the division so far this season. With extremely limited resources the club sit just below the play off’s and having held Arsenal to a draw at home in the FA Cup, they will count this season as a success regardless of its conclusion.
For me though, the best appointment I’ve seen in many a year is Southampton’s Nigel Adkins. His tenure at Scunthorpe United was miraculous. Winning two promotions to the Championship with such a small club and keeping them there at the second time of asking takes some beating. Adkins was then hired by Southampton in favour of Alan Pardew who saw very little action in League One this season before landing a plumb job at Newcastle United.
In recent seasons we’ve seen top lower league managers such as Ian Holloway and Owen Coyle show what they can do in the top flight. In terms of coaching and management it’s probably the strongest this division has ever seen. It will be only a matter of time before some of League One’s finest get a chance at the big time.
Football Orphan: Bring back the Cup Winners Cup…..
Periodically Uefa decide to reinvent the format of European competition. When they set about their task and shaved the Cup Winners Cup from the schedule, they removed an integral piece of the fabric from European football. No longer is the English FA Cup greeted with the fervour that it once was and we no longer look at any competition in Europe that boasts only the best team in its “division”.
The CWC was the equivalent of a Bantamweight contest in boxing. It would never get all the accolades that it’s bigger brother the heavyweight would get, but pound for pound you were watching the best cup team from each country. The factions of beauty which adorned this contest were unrivalled. The nature of it being a cup competition within a cup competition, the trophy was elusive and never conquered by the same club two years running in its existence.
In later years in order to gain more recognition, the CWC was moved from Wednesday nights to Thursdays. This move was made in an effort not to clash with newly formed flagship tournament, The Champions League. This was to give it a platform of its own but in giving Champions League football centre stage it would tighten the noose ever more. This didn’t concern the elitists at Uefa as they saw the big clubs they courted so much fall into their lustful grasp.
The CWC gave British clubs post Heysel some of its most vibrant memories. Before Manchester United put the first of their eleven Premier League trophies in the cabinet, they became “Bantamweight champions”. Both Arsenal and Chelsea also went on to lift the trophy before the tournament was eventually wrapped up.
Those who watched Nayim lob Seaman from the half way line when Real Zaragoza beat reigning champions Arsenal in the last minute of extra time will mark that equal to any drama European tournaments have to offer. The last ever final was held at Villa Park where Lazio beat Real Mallorca. The trophy was awarded to Barcelona as the most successful club in the tournaments history. This was despite protestations from Lazio who argued that as the last ever winners, they were entitled to keep it. It was a cup competition with a genuinely exciting format and one that I remember with great fondness. The Cup Winners Cup may be gone, but not forgotten.
Football Orphan: FA Cup Weak-end.
Attentions turned to the FA Cup this past weekend and the debate of weather the cup has lost it’s magic raises it’s head yet again. The tie of the round was unquestionably at Old Trafford as Manchester United entertained Arsenal. The home side emerged from a spikey encounter to take their place in the semi final while Arsenal count the cost of exiting three competitions in a fortnight.
Manchester City ended Reading’s resistance to set up a Wembley showdown with neighbours United. Stoke overcame West Ham and Bolton saw off Aston Villa in a five goal thriller. Both semi finals will take place over the weekend of 16/17 of April.
In days gone past clubs that progressed through the oldest cup competition in the world dared dream of the ultimate prize, lifting the infamous FA Cup. For me, this year in particular the tournament has been tainted by sub plots.
Having both semi finals in Wembley again will no doubt go a long way towards paying for the cost of the rebuilding of the world famous stadium, but it well and truly takes the gloss off the final as a unique show piece event. At this particular time it looks like once the identity of the two finalists are known, it will become anti-climatic. Behind closed doors the FA are believed to be discussing a revamp with measures put in place to generate more interest, such as the tournament moving to midweek.
The other semi final between Bolton and Stoke will be anticipated to a lesser degree given the lower profile of both clubs. With both Manchester clubs almost certain to secure a top five finish, the winner of the Bolton/Stoke clash will progress to the Europa League. This is arguably a far bigger prize for smaller clubs, at very least financially with large paydays few and far between.
Many traditionalists and club managers have been critical of the FA’s insistence of financially capitolising on the penultimate round of the competition most notably Alex Ferguson. Once the draw was made and matched up the two Manchester heavyweights it would be difficult to pick an alternative neutral venue to accommodate such a fixture. On the other hand, with the strongarm tactics that both Stoke and Bolton Wanderers are traditionally known for,maybe Twickenham would have been a more appropriate venue for their semi final.
Football Orphan 