Unfortunately this isn't one of those competitions that you'd particularly want to win, especially if you happen to be a Premier League manager. The unfortunate winner of this years Premier League sack race is Steve Bruce, much to the delight of the bookies who have been taking obscene amounts of money on Steve Kean being the first to go.
For the majority of the season, the smart money has been on Steve Kean to be the first to go, but for once it does seem like the dreaded 'vote of confidence' from the owners is actually a vote of confidence for Steve (ps. sorry if that's the kiss of death and Steve Kean gets sacked imminently). What has also worked in Steve Kean's favour has been the willingness of his players to work hard and fight for him...fair enough they've also shown a worrying lack of footballing ability, but god loves a trier.
Anyway, back to Steve Bruce, I do feel a little sorry for him. Bruce led his Sunderland team to their best season since 2002 and their second highest ever finish in the Premier League, despite losing talismanic striker Darren Bent in January. Then during the summer transfer window he lost Jordan Henderson to Liverpool and Asamoah Gyan to greed and struggled to bring in any recognised attacking quality (no, Niklas Bendtner is not qualtiy). The additions of Kieran Westwood on a free transfer from Coventry and Connor Wickham for £8m from Ipswich were both shrewd bits of business, fighting off alleged interest from Celtic and Arsenal respectively to land the pair. Obviously a record in the league this season of 11 points from 13 games, 2 wins, 5 draws and 6 losses isn't brilliant, but only the two Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Newcastle have conceded less goals this term. Quite frankly, its amazing that it has taken until the last day of November for someone to get the sack, but I think it may have been a little premature.
Lets look at this pragmatically for a minute. The nature of the league is that three unfortunate clubs are going to get relegated (despite the foreign owners of Premier League teams wanting to abolish this, either that is the most ridiculous idea every, or proof that the British public will indeed believe anything that appears on the BBC website!), obviously no-one wants it to be one of those teams, the number crunchers see the financial aspect of relegation, and the fans point to the lack of quality they'll be seeing on a weekly basis...but does it matter. How many Boro fans stopped turning up when the team stopped playing well? How many Leeds fans turned up when they were relegated to League 1? The same question for Forest fans. Compare this to Southampton, who got relegated, deducted 10 points and still all but pulled a full house in League 1. Charlton are another example of the big club falling from grace, but still the fans turn up in their droves. At the end of the day real fans will support their team no matter what league they are in, provided it gives value for money. You can't charge Premier League prices for lower league football, I personally resent paying £25 to get into a League 1 game, but I still pay my money as many times as I can in a season to support my team. If a manager loses the dressing room, that is a problem, if the manager loses games, that can be changed, instead of getting rid of him, why don't the owners and the board give them a chance? If you get relegated, chances are you'll be best placed to bounce back up next season...and if you don't believe your team can beat anyone in the world, you may not be quite the fan you think you are.
The bookies (as usual) have already installed Martin O'Neil as the favourite to take over the job, although I'm sure the words Alan and Curbishley will soon find their way into the fray, but who else is out there? A mate of mine did have a great celebrity spot in a lift today having been stood next to Sven, who is available at the moment, although I doubt the Sunderland pockets are deep enough for his wages...so who else, dare I suggest Steve McClaren for fear of getting horrifically abused by Sunderland fans? How about Paul Ince or Mark Hughes...maybe Rafa Benitez (its a fact). We'll have to wait and see.
So, who next for the sack? AVB? Steve Kean? Mick McCarthy is fairly heavily tipped by the bookies, but then again they've got Harry Redknapp at 16/1 to be sacked next...I'm fairly sure it would take something huge and bung shaped for that to happen.
A final word then, here's to hoping that Steve Bruce finds a new job soon, partly because he seems like a nice guy...but mostly so we can get this back...STEEEEEEEVVVEE BRUCE, HE'S GOT A BIG FAT HEAD, HE'S GOT A BIG FAT HEAD, HE'S GOT A BIG FAT HEAD...
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Goal of the week
Friday, 25 November 2011
Goal scoring goalies
Its the last minute...you need a goal, from somewhere, anywhere, this is it, its all on the line...you win a corner, one last chance to toss it into the box...who knows, maybe you'll get lucky, maybe that donkey of a centre forward who couldn't hit a barn door all season will fall over in the box, make contact with the ball and send it flying into the top corner...but whats this you see out of the corner of your eye? Your 'keeper is gesticulating wildly at the bench, you shoot a glance at the manager...there it is! There's the resigned wave of the arm, the permission for one of the most magical things in football to happen, the 'keeper is coming up for the corner...
Now, for the most part the next minute or so is a bit of an anti-climax, firstly we'll have a commentator telling us that "the manager will be hoping the big man will cause havoc in the box", then the obligatory close up of the "big man" causing "havoc" in the box followed by the corner being floated in, nowhere near the goalkeeper and the game peters out into nothingness. But just occasionally that keeper will make himself a hero...
Obviously there are a couple of notable exceptions to this stereotype of 'keepers scoring, 'Chila' and Rogerio Cen.
Jose Luis Chilavert, the Paraguayan 'keeper affectionately known in Argentina and Paraguay as 'Chila', the man had a penchant for scoring goals. During his career at in Paraguay and Argentina he chalked up 44 club goals including a hat-trick for Velez Sarsfield against Ferro Carril Oeste and scoring a free kick from the half way line against fallen Argentine giants River Plate. Chila also had a fiery side, probably most famous incident was his brawl with Colombian legend Faustino Asprilla. Amazingly he also scored 8 goals for his country, thats more than Robbie Fowler, Chris Waddle and big Emile have managed.
Rogerio Ceni is another South American phenomenon having famously played over 1000 first class games and having scored 103 goals...oh, and he's still going. Ceni is officially the most prolific 'keeper ever, and all of his goal have come for his one and only club Sao Paulo, he has even outscored Paul Scholes...and if you hadn't heard, Paul Scholes scores goals.
Enough of these experienced goal scorers though, lets delve a little deeper into the rarer breed of goalscoring goalies.
Firstly a cheeky little effort from arguably the greatest goalkeeper of all time, Peter Schmeichel with an overhead kick scored against Wimbledon, but again Schmeichel had a habit of popping up with goals every now and then.
Paul Robinson also used to enjoy going forward, scoring this effort against Swindon for Leeds, along with a couple of others, and actually managed to cause enough of a nuisance last weekend to win a penalty against Wigan.
But the ultimate goalscoring goalie is one Jimmy Glass. Jimmy was on the books at Swindon when he was shipped out to Carlisle United for the final 3 games of the 1998/99 season. Carlisle were languishing at the bottom of the football league, battling it out for survival against Scarborough. It had all come down to the last game of the season, a must win game against Plymouth Argyle. After 90mins of play things were not looking good, at 1-1 Carlisle were going down, out of the league and probably out of business for good. News had filtered through to the Scarborough fans that the scores were level at Brunton Park with only seconds left to play, and so they were on the pitch celebrating survival. As Carlisle pushed forward in numbers they managed to force a corner. Cue Jimmy Glass gesticulating wildly at Carlisle boss Nigel Pearson who gave the 6ft 4 'keeper permission to amble forward into the box.
The corner is swung in...a Carlisle head meets the ball, the Plymouth 'keeper can only parry it out...and then...well, I'll let you watch this little video. 3,000 Cumbrians on top of Jimmy, 1 on the ref!
Now, for the most part the next minute or so is a bit of an anti-climax, firstly we'll have a commentator telling us that "the manager will be hoping the big man will cause havoc in the box", then the obligatory close up of the "big man" causing "havoc" in the box followed by the corner being floated in, nowhere near the goalkeeper and the game peters out into nothingness. But just occasionally that keeper will make himself a hero...
Obviously there are a couple of notable exceptions to this stereotype of 'keepers scoring, 'Chila' and Rogerio Cen.
Jose Luis Chilavert, the Paraguayan 'keeper affectionately known in Argentina and Paraguay as 'Chila', the man had a penchant for scoring goals. During his career at in Paraguay and Argentina he chalked up 44 club goals including a hat-trick for Velez Sarsfield against Ferro Carril Oeste and scoring a free kick from the half way line against fallen Argentine giants River Plate. Chila also had a fiery side, probably most famous incident was his brawl with Colombian legend Faustino Asprilla. Amazingly he also scored 8 goals for his country, thats more than Robbie Fowler, Chris Waddle and big Emile have managed.
Rogerio Ceni is another South American phenomenon having famously played over 1000 first class games and having scored 103 goals...oh, and he's still going. Ceni is officially the most prolific 'keeper ever, and all of his goal have come for his one and only club Sao Paulo, he has even outscored Paul Scholes...and if you hadn't heard, Paul Scholes scores goals.
Enough of these experienced goal scorers though, lets delve a little deeper into the rarer breed of goalscoring goalies.
Firstly a cheeky little effort from arguably the greatest goalkeeper of all time, Peter Schmeichel with an overhead kick scored against Wimbledon, but again Schmeichel had a habit of popping up with goals every now and then.
Paul Robinson also used to enjoy going forward, scoring this effort against Swindon for Leeds, along with a couple of others, and actually managed to cause enough of a nuisance last weekend to win a penalty against Wigan.
But the ultimate goalscoring goalie is one Jimmy Glass. Jimmy was on the books at Swindon when he was shipped out to Carlisle United for the final 3 games of the 1998/99 season. Carlisle were languishing at the bottom of the football league, battling it out for survival against Scarborough. It had all come down to the last game of the season, a must win game against Plymouth Argyle. After 90mins of play things were not looking good, at 1-1 Carlisle were going down, out of the league and probably out of business for good. News had filtered through to the Scarborough fans that the scores were level at Brunton Park with only seconds left to play, and so they were on the pitch celebrating survival. As Carlisle pushed forward in numbers they managed to force a corner. Cue Jimmy Glass gesticulating wildly at Carlisle boss Nigel Pearson who gave the 6ft 4 'keeper permission to amble forward into the box.
The corner is swung in...a Carlisle head meets the ball, the Plymouth 'keeper can only parry it out...and then...well, I'll let you watch this little video. 3,000 Cumbrians on top of Jimmy, 1 on the ref!
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
...and so now on to Goal of the Week
Sometimes it seems that acrobatic goals get the plaudits far too often, even when they're a bit ragged and a little bit lucky all at the same time. Having said that, if it hadn't been for that pesky linesman, Osvaldo's acrobatic effort would have been goal of the week...but alas, the flag was up.
That has led me to this effort from the Dutch league from the wonderfully named Lex Immers...half porn start, half howitzer...BOOM!
You don't save those...
That has led me to this effort from the Dutch league from the wonderfully named Lex Immers...half porn start, half howitzer...BOOM!
You don't save those...
Monday, 21 November 2011
Almost goal of the week...
Sometimes life can be unfair...but next time you think you've been dealt a bad hand, or that life is going against you spare a thought for Roma's Osvaldo.
Possibly the best disallowed goal ever...and he wasn't even offside.
Possibly the best disallowed goal ever...and he wasn't even offside.
Friday, 18 November 2011
Just you and Carlton Palmer...
The modern footballer is more than just a player...they are a brand in themselves, and those at the top of the game cash in on their notoriety, even Lee Trundle had image rights for being rotund and scouse. Whether its in a simple photo ad campaign, just being seen in the right gear, TV or in recent years virals from companies like Nike.
We all remember the old Nike adverts like The Mission (after which then led to schoolboys up and down the country trying 'the Davids flick'), the Brazil Airport ad from the 1998 World Cup or the more recent The Cage campaign and Joga Bonito and of course who can forget King Eric himself vanquishing the Devil, and they are entertaining. I could easily sit and watch all of these on a loop and be still love it, but I wouldn't ever describe them as funny (with the exception of Louis Van Gaal reprimanding his team in The Mission "IT'S ROUNDER!!"). There is however a certain betting company though who aren't afraid of using footballers to promote their products and poke a little bit of fun at them, and in all fairness, the footballers themselves aren't afraid to be the butt of the jokes...I am of course talking about Paddy Power.
Now as much as I enjoyed the blind football advert and the more recent balloon adverts for me you can't beat the ad campaign they ran a couple of years ago using a few classic players...
Now if you needed a 90's footballer to promote a gambling firm, there are quite a few options, but for your options to lead you to one Bruce David Grobbelaar a man who was charged with match fixing, it either madness or genius. Luckily for the folks over at Paddy Power the sight of Brucie popping out of a fridge in full 1980's Liverpool 'keeper kit and then disappear into the dishwasher is one of the greatest bits of telly ever, but unfortunately for yer man he'd been outshone by two others during the same campaign.
Step forward Desmond Sinclair Walker, 657 appearances, 1 goal...but one of the greatest defenders this country has ever produced...so imagine the surprise on for the young gent in this advert, when Desmond pops up on a coat hanger to give him little refund...meeting a legend and free money, sounds like a winner...and to be honest Narnia aint got nothing on this wardrobe. But Desmond only comes second in the greatest footballer adverts.
In possibly the greatest advert of all time..."isn't this nice, just you and Carlton Palmer having a bath". Whichever genius came up with this one genuinely should be knighted or given an MBE at the very least. In true marketing style there are two endings to this one...the original and the too hot for TV version. Both are amazing, and still make me giggle...enjoy.
We all remember the old Nike adverts like The Mission (after which then led to schoolboys up and down the country trying 'the Davids flick'), the Brazil Airport ad from the 1998 World Cup or the more recent The Cage campaign and Joga Bonito and of course who can forget King Eric himself vanquishing the Devil, and they are entertaining. I could easily sit and watch all of these on a loop and be still love it, but I wouldn't ever describe them as funny (with the exception of Louis Van Gaal reprimanding his team in The Mission "IT'S ROUNDER!!"). There is however a certain betting company though who aren't afraid of using footballers to promote their products and poke a little bit of fun at them, and in all fairness, the footballers themselves aren't afraid to be the butt of the jokes...I am of course talking about Paddy Power.
Now as much as I enjoyed the blind football advert and the more recent balloon adverts for me you can't beat the ad campaign they ran a couple of years ago using a few classic players...
Now if you needed a 90's footballer to promote a gambling firm, there are quite a few options, but for your options to lead you to one Bruce David Grobbelaar a man who was charged with match fixing, it either madness or genius. Luckily for the folks over at Paddy Power the sight of Brucie popping out of a fridge in full 1980's Liverpool 'keeper kit and then disappear into the dishwasher is one of the greatest bits of telly ever, but unfortunately for yer man he'd been outshone by two others during the same campaign.
Step forward Desmond Sinclair Walker, 657 appearances, 1 goal...but one of the greatest defenders this country has ever produced...so imagine the surprise on for the young gent in this advert, when Desmond pops up on a coat hanger to give him little refund...meeting a legend and free money, sounds like a winner...and to be honest Narnia aint got nothing on this wardrobe. But Desmond only comes second in the greatest footballer adverts.
In possibly the greatest advert of all time..."isn't this nice, just you and Carlton Palmer having a bath". Whichever genius came up with this one genuinely should be knighted or given an MBE at the very least. In true marketing style there are two endings to this one...the original and the too hot for TV version. Both are amazing, and still make me giggle...enjoy.
Saturday, 12 November 2011
England v Spain - Half time view
Its approximately 18:01 and I've just finished watching the first half on England v Spain and all in all its gone a bit better than I would have expected. To be honest I had been meaning to a post about the game all week but just never go round to it...to sum up what my thoughts were going to be, basically if you look at the squads the England squad is looking a bit second rate, and this should be a routine victory for the Spaniards.
The possession stats will probably tell the same story, but having watched the first half, England have done remarkably well at being patient and restricting the Spanish chances.
Obviously its only half time, so I'm not going to start banging on about how well we may or may not have played, but at the moment the English midfield are looking fairly solid and disciplined. The deployment of Phil Jones and Scott Parker in the middle of the park has given the team a bit of steel, but Jones has also been one of the more promising attacking options, creating space in the middle of the park which is looking otherwise congested.
However, that shouldn't be his job...and at the risk of jumping on bandwagon about Frank Lampard, that should be the job of the attacking player in the midfield trio. Darren Bent has been so isolated, and he needs a link man breaking out from the midfield when (eventually) England get the ball, someone with young legs and a good engine to keep going as a box-to-box player (how many cliches in a sentence!?) to get around him and provide support. James Milner could do this job, but so far he has been ineffectual wide on the left, and this has led to Ashley Cole losing the ball on multiple occasions.
As an attacking force, England haven't turned up and seeing Downing coming on for Walcott at half-time doesn't seem like changing that.
Spain have done what Spain do...despite what the pundits and commentary team think, they've not been amazing, they've moved the ball sideways well, but have looked troubled when the English line pushes up and pressurises the team...and as ever, they have been masters of the "dark arts", tactical fouls, rolling around etc.
So, to summarise before the second half kicks off. England as a defensive unit have done well and have resisted the temptation to over commit when they have the ball which would leave us open at the back. But lets at least take a few chances, these are international standard players, professional athletes and should be able to get themselves back in position before Spain have passed them to death...we'll see...GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLL....1-0 England, cracking set piece from "ineffectual" James Milner and scored by "not doing his job" Lampard...I'll just keep quiet next time...
The possession stats will probably tell the same story, but having watched the first half, England have done remarkably well at being patient and restricting the Spanish chances.
Obviously its only half time, so I'm not going to start banging on about how well we may or may not have played, but at the moment the English midfield are looking fairly solid and disciplined. The deployment of Phil Jones and Scott Parker in the middle of the park has given the team a bit of steel, but Jones has also been one of the more promising attacking options, creating space in the middle of the park which is looking otherwise congested.
However, that shouldn't be his job...and at the risk of jumping on bandwagon about Frank Lampard, that should be the job of the attacking player in the midfield trio. Darren Bent has been so isolated, and he needs a link man breaking out from the midfield when (eventually) England get the ball, someone with young legs and a good engine to keep going as a box-to-box player (how many cliches in a sentence!?) to get around him and provide support. James Milner could do this job, but so far he has been ineffectual wide on the left, and this has led to Ashley Cole losing the ball on multiple occasions.
As an attacking force, England haven't turned up and seeing Downing coming on for Walcott at half-time doesn't seem like changing that.
Spain have done what Spain do...despite what the pundits and commentary team think, they've not been amazing, they've moved the ball sideways well, but have looked troubled when the English line pushes up and pressurises the team...and as ever, they have been masters of the "dark arts", tactical fouls, rolling around etc.
So, to summarise before the second half kicks off. England as a defensive unit have done well and have resisted the temptation to over commit when they have the ball which would leave us open at the back. But lets at least take a few chances, these are international standard players, professional athletes and should be able to get themselves back in position before Spain have passed them to death...we'll see...GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLL....1-0 England, cracking set piece from "ineffectual" James Milner and scored by "not doing his job" Lampard...I'll just keep quiet next time...
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Playing for the Shirt - Update
First there was no income tax...then there was no money back, no guarantee...but now those Fools and Horses are giving back...and giving back to the football world...and its epic.
Available with no name or number, 'Del Boy 1', 'Rodders 2' or my personal favourite 'Trigger 9'. I can't help thinking they should have done a 'Dave 99'.
If you only see one goal from the last week
We have been spoilt in recent weeks with some cracking goals, and many of us thought it would go on forever...alas it wasn't to be, and this weeks offering from around the globe just don't quite stack up to recent weeks.
Having said that, don't turn your nose up at this weeks selection...the technique alone was enough to get me out of my chair with the standard incoherent vocalisation of my appreciation for the goal (its an emission something like an "ooh" but that seemed very camp when I typed it...incoherent vocalisation is much better...). The technique in addition to the ball ending up in the top corner made this the stand out finish of the week...so take a bow Andy Johnson, for this goal in the Europa League against Wisla Krakow.
Having said that, don't turn your nose up at this weeks selection...the technique alone was enough to get me out of my chair with the standard incoherent vocalisation of my appreciation for the goal (its an emission something like an "ooh" but that seemed very camp when I typed it...incoherent vocalisation is much better...). The technique in addition to the ball ending up in the top corner made this the stand out finish of the week...so take a bow Andy Johnson, for this goal in the Europa League against Wisla Krakow.
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Premier Leagues most under capped players
In these times when international caps get given out like sweets, I've decided to have a look at 11 players who have played in the Premier League who have a criminally low amount of caps...no I don't mean Francis Jeffers and Michael Ricketts, I'm talking about the guys who are immense week in week out for their club sides, but for some reason just haven't ever made the step up to international level on a regular basis.
GK - Carlo Cudicini (0 caps). In the pre-Cech era at Chelsea Carlo was arguably the best keeper in the league and with form that also saw him voted Chelsea's Fans Player of the Year in 2001/02. Unfortunate to be an Italian 'keeper in the same era as Buffon...but I'm no England fan would have complained if he was to turn out for us.
DEF - Steve Bruce (0 caps). As the song goes "Steve Bruce, he's got a big fat head, he's got a big fat head, he's got a big fat head"...but he's also got 3 Premier League winners medals, 3 FA cup winners medals, 1 League Cup and 1 European Cup Winners Cup winners medal along with being the first captain to complete an FA Cup and Premier League double and being voted into the Premier Leagues team of the decade in 2002. Yet somehow Steve managed to turn out for England a grand total of zero times.
DEF - Ledley King (21 caps). Ok, so 21 caps isn't too bad a tally, but when you look at the sheer talent big deadly Ledley possess it is a crime that he hasn't represented his country more than 21 times. Pace, power, positioning and impeccable tackling technique if it weren't for his injury problems I think he would be first choice over Rio Ferdinand and John Terry.
DEF - Paul Parker (19 caps). The best thing you could say about Paul Parker is that you very rarely noticed that he was on the pitch...and then he'd go on a foray forwards and whip a cross in for Eric Cantona to finish. The original Mr.Consistency before G.Nev took over that mantle, along with his place in the Man.United and England team.
MID - David Ginola (17 caps). Undoubtedly talented, but also liable to the odd meltdown. Ginola's international career was all but ended during a qualifier for USA 1994 against Bulgaria. With the scores level and France only needing a draw to qualify Ginola over hit a cross, from which Bulgaria went up the other end and scored and knocked France out of the tournament. France manager Gerard Houllier blamed the failure on Ginola and he was branded the "assassin of french football". Ginola was barracked by French fans during the following season prompting him to leave for England...for this we are forever thankful to the French, especially for moments like that goal against Barnsley.
MID - Danny Murphy (9 caps). Another hugely talented footballer who maybe didn't get the chances he deserved because of his peers. Made his debut for Crewe at the age of 16, before moving to Liverpool where he won the treble. Great striker of a dead ball, always has space in the middle of the park and what a range of passing on the boy...just ask Fulham fans.
MID - Mikel Arteta (0 caps). No-one epitomises being born in the wrong year more than Mikel. I hope Mr and Mrs Arteta are happy with themselves for producing such a talent, but hang their heads in shame for not consulting with the Iniesta's and Hernandez's before having little Mikel.
MID - Paul Merson (21 caps). To say Paul Merson had some problems would be an understatement (playing a drinking and sleeping pill game with Gazza), but to see him in full flight with a ball at his feet was something else. Maybe not the most graceful of players, but a legend at every club he played for.
MID - Matthew Le Tissier (8 caps). Sure he may be "chunky", and he may have been a little bit lazy...but Matt Le Tissier is a one man highlight reel...he just didn't know how to score an average goal. A true one club man, only ever missed one penalty, fittingly scored the last ever goal at The Dell and cited by Xavi as one of his childhood inspirations. "His talent was simply out of the norm. He could simply dribble past seven or eight players but without speed - he just walked past them. For me he was sensational"...I think I may just agree with Xavi.
FWD - 'Sir' Les Ferdinand MBE (17 caps). 'Sir' Les was the perfect number nine. Strong, powerful, great finisher and unstoppable in the air. Once again maybe didn't quite fulfill his potential at International level due to his contemporaries, despite giving up his number 9 shirt at Newcastle to allow Alan Shearer to take it and move to Newcastle, but 'Sir' Les will always be a hero at Loftus Road.
FWD - Kevin Philips (8 caps). Almost single-handedly dragged Sunderland to their highest ever finish and one of the few Englishmen to finish a season with 30 goals...although he has now played for almost as many clubs as that.
FWD - Robbie Fowler (28). The ultimate finisher, for my generation there has been no deadlier finisher in the Premier League, not blessed with physical assets but still was at the top of the game for many many years until a better standard of life called from down under.
Subs;
Jonathan Woodgate (8 caps). How many players score an own goal and get sent off on their debut and still get a standing ovation, and how many do it for Real Madrid. Tells you all you need to know about the man.
Michael Bridges (0 caps). Once one of the Premier Leagues hot properties, but a string of serious injuries led him down the leagues (much to the delight of Carlisle United fans) before a stint in Australia before he retired earlier in the year.
Scott Parker (9 caps). Tenacious, hard working and can play a bit. No more needs to be said.
Andrew Cole (15 caps). Once the most expensive player in the league, and well worth his price tag.
GK - Carlo Cudicini (0 caps). In the pre-Cech era at Chelsea Carlo was arguably the best keeper in the league and with form that also saw him voted Chelsea's Fans Player of the Year in 2001/02. Unfortunate to be an Italian 'keeper in the same era as Buffon...but I'm no England fan would have complained if he was to turn out for us.
DEF - Steve Bruce (0 caps). As the song goes "Steve Bruce, he's got a big fat head, he's got a big fat head, he's got a big fat head"...but he's also got 3 Premier League winners medals, 3 FA cup winners medals, 1 League Cup and 1 European Cup Winners Cup winners medal along with being the first captain to complete an FA Cup and Premier League double and being voted into the Premier Leagues team of the decade in 2002. Yet somehow Steve managed to turn out for England a grand total of zero times.
DEF - Ledley King (21 caps). Ok, so 21 caps isn't too bad a tally, but when you look at the sheer talent big deadly Ledley possess it is a crime that he hasn't represented his country more than 21 times. Pace, power, positioning and impeccable tackling technique if it weren't for his injury problems I think he would be first choice over Rio Ferdinand and John Terry.
DEF - Paul Parker (19 caps). The best thing you could say about Paul Parker is that you very rarely noticed that he was on the pitch...and then he'd go on a foray forwards and whip a cross in for Eric Cantona to finish. The original Mr.Consistency before G.Nev took over that mantle, along with his place in the Man.United and England team.
MID - David Ginola (17 caps). Undoubtedly talented, but also liable to the odd meltdown. Ginola's international career was all but ended during a qualifier for USA 1994 against Bulgaria. With the scores level and France only needing a draw to qualify Ginola over hit a cross, from which Bulgaria went up the other end and scored and knocked France out of the tournament. France manager Gerard Houllier blamed the failure on Ginola and he was branded the "assassin of french football". Ginola was barracked by French fans during the following season prompting him to leave for England...for this we are forever thankful to the French, especially for moments like that goal against Barnsley.
MID - Danny Murphy (9 caps). Another hugely talented footballer who maybe didn't get the chances he deserved because of his peers. Made his debut for Crewe at the age of 16, before moving to Liverpool where he won the treble. Great striker of a dead ball, always has space in the middle of the park and what a range of passing on the boy...just ask Fulham fans.
MID - Mikel Arteta (0 caps). No-one epitomises being born in the wrong year more than Mikel. I hope Mr and Mrs Arteta are happy with themselves for producing such a talent, but hang their heads in shame for not consulting with the Iniesta's and Hernandez's before having little Mikel.
MID - Paul Merson (21 caps). To say Paul Merson had some problems would be an understatement (playing a drinking and sleeping pill game with Gazza), but to see him in full flight with a ball at his feet was something else. Maybe not the most graceful of players, but a legend at every club he played for.
MID - Matthew Le Tissier (8 caps). Sure he may be "chunky", and he may have been a little bit lazy...but Matt Le Tissier is a one man highlight reel...he just didn't know how to score an average goal. A true one club man, only ever missed one penalty, fittingly scored the last ever goal at The Dell and cited by Xavi as one of his childhood inspirations. "His talent was simply out of the norm. He could simply dribble past seven or eight players but without speed - he just walked past them. For me he was sensational"...I think I may just agree with Xavi.
FWD - 'Sir' Les Ferdinand MBE (17 caps). 'Sir' Les was the perfect number nine. Strong, powerful, great finisher and unstoppable in the air. Once again maybe didn't quite fulfill his potential at International level due to his contemporaries, despite giving up his number 9 shirt at Newcastle to allow Alan Shearer to take it and move to Newcastle, but 'Sir' Les will always be a hero at Loftus Road.
FWD - Kevin Philips (8 caps). Almost single-handedly dragged Sunderland to their highest ever finish and one of the few Englishmen to finish a season with 30 goals...although he has now played for almost as many clubs as that.
FWD - Robbie Fowler (28). The ultimate finisher, for my generation there has been no deadlier finisher in the Premier League, not blessed with physical assets but still was at the top of the game for many many years until a better standard of life called from down under.
Subs;
Jonathan Woodgate (8 caps). How many players score an own goal and get sent off on their debut and still get a standing ovation, and how many do it for Real Madrid. Tells you all you need to know about the man.
Michael Bridges (0 caps). Once one of the Premier Leagues hot properties, but a string of serious injuries led him down the leagues (much to the delight of Carlisle United fans) before a stint in Australia before he retired earlier in the year.
Scott Parker (9 caps). Tenacious, hard working and can play a bit. No more needs to be said.
Andrew Cole (15 caps). Once the most expensive player in the league, and well worth his price tag.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
A chip off the old block
First we had;
Johann Cruyff - Amazing
Then we had;
Jordi Cruyff - Had his moments, always did a job
And now we have Jesjua Angoy Cruyff, the 18 year old grandson of Johann who is currently on the books of Wigan having left Barcelona in the summer and who scored this stunner in the 81st minute in the Lancashire Cup against Preston North End...maybe a chip of the old family block.
Johann Cruyff - Amazing
Then we had;
Jordi Cruyff - Had his moments, always did a job
And now we have Jesjua Angoy Cruyff, the 18 year old grandson of Johann who is currently on the books of Wigan having left Barcelona in the summer and who scored this stunner in the 81st minute in the Lancashire Cup against Preston North End...maybe a chip of the old family block.
Rubbish defending? brilliant Strikers? A bit of both?
One of the big talking points coming out of the Premier League fixtures at the weekend is the amount of goals that have been scored in the league so far this season....some writers and pundits have been attributing the shift to the quality of the strikers now plying their trade in the league whilst others have blamed it on poor defending...so now its time for my take on it.
There can be no argument with some of the statistics, after the first ten rounds of matches we've averaged 2.97 goals per game, this is the highest rate we've seen in the Premier League, you could argue that this has been skewed somewhat by the regular cricket scores which have cropped up this season...the 8-2's, 6-0's, 6-1's and 5-3's...but these have been frighteningly regular, are we seeing a shift in emphasis from the managers? Andre Villas-Boas has gone on record stating that he simply wants to outscore the opposition.
At half-time of the Chelsea vs Arsenal game on Saturday Gary Neville was genuinely angry and appalled by the frankly shocking defending being exhibited by both sides (I would call it schoolboy defending, but even schoolboys are better than this), after all these are for the most part international defenders making basic, basic errors. Even John Terry is no longer looking like the man mountain he used to be, and as pointed out by Alan Hansen, it used to be the case that you could play anyone next to JT and it'd be fine, but now you have to make sure that its a quality defender alongside him to help out...what he then stopped short of saying was the David Luiz is not, and will never be the right man for that job (as good as his scissor kicks are, the boy is pony at defending...and penalties). It does on occasion seem like the basic art of defending has been forgotten by the top pro's, simple things like marking and tackling seem to be beyond some, there are exceptions Steven Taylor and Fabio Coloccini have been outstanding for Newcastle and Ledley King is always a rock at the back (when he's fit).
But on the other hand, maybe its just that when they make a mistake the strikers on show are more talented and nine times out of ten they will punish you for the mistake...Sergio Aguero has undeniably been different class, Super Mario has equally been as good when he's not setting off fireworks in his bathroom and Wayne Rooney has found his form again (a little piece of me can't help but thinking it may be the hair).
Both of these are valid explanations for the increase in goals this season...but maybe its a bit more to do with a culture change within the league itself, maybe the public have become so drunk on watching Barcelona and Real Madrid playing their open attacking brand of football that the managers and players are starting to open up a bit. Maybe the need to entertain has over taken the need to keep a clean sheet, and the need to keep the fans coming through the gates to see free flowing football is more important than basic defending as a team.
If any of these explanations were to hold true, then we can't really just look at the Premier League results. One way of analysing how English clubs are performing is to compare the performances of the English teams in the Champions League over the first four group games this season compared to last. So far this season the English teams have scored 27 goals and conceded a miserly 10 across the combined 16 games played by the four teams. At this stage last season the four English teams had scored 44 goals and conceded 14 across the combined 16 games...hmmm, so defending is getting worse, strikers are getting better, but in Europe, English teams have scored less and conceded less...
I'm sure you've all made up your own mind about why there have been so many goals this season, all I know is I'm confused, but I am enjoying it...however, I would like to see some good old fashioned defending find its way back into the league, crunching tackles, towering headers, positioning and no-nonsense defending....BANG.
There can be no argument with some of the statistics, after the first ten rounds of matches we've averaged 2.97 goals per game, this is the highest rate we've seen in the Premier League, you could argue that this has been skewed somewhat by the regular cricket scores which have cropped up this season...the 8-2's, 6-0's, 6-1's and 5-3's...but these have been frighteningly regular, are we seeing a shift in emphasis from the managers? Andre Villas-Boas has gone on record stating that he simply wants to outscore the opposition.
At half-time of the Chelsea vs Arsenal game on Saturday Gary Neville was genuinely angry and appalled by the frankly shocking defending being exhibited by both sides (I would call it schoolboy defending, but even schoolboys are better than this), after all these are for the most part international defenders making basic, basic errors. Even John Terry is no longer looking like the man mountain he used to be, and as pointed out by Alan Hansen, it used to be the case that you could play anyone next to JT and it'd be fine, but now you have to make sure that its a quality defender alongside him to help out...what he then stopped short of saying was the David Luiz is not, and will never be the right man for that job (as good as his scissor kicks are, the boy is pony at defending...and penalties). It does on occasion seem like the basic art of defending has been forgotten by the top pro's, simple things like marking and tackling seem to be beyond some, there are exceptions Steven Taylor and Fabio Coloccini have been outstanding for Newcastle and Ledley King is always a rock at the back (when he's fit).
But on the other hand, maybe its just that when they make a mistake the strikers on show are more talented and nine times out of ten they will punish you for the mistake...Sergio Aguero has undeniably been different class, Super Mario has equally been as good when he's not setting off fireworks in his bathroom and Wayne Rooney has found his form again (a little piece of me can't help but thinking it may be the hair).
Both of these are valid explanations for the increase in goals this season...but maybe its a bit more to do with a culture change within the league itself, maybe the public have become so drunk on watching Barcelona and Real Madrid playing their open attacking brand of football that the managers and players are starting to open up a bit. Maybe the need to entertain has over taken the need to keep a clean sheet, and the need to keep the fans coming through the gates to see free flowing football is more important than basic defending as a team.
If any of these explanations were to hold true, then we can't really just look at the Premier League results. One way of analysing how English clubs are performing is to compare the performances of the English teams in the Champions League over the first four group games this season compared to last. So far this season the English teams have scored 27 goals and conceded a miserly 10 across the combined 16 games played by the four teams. At this stage last season the four English teams had scored 44 goals and conceded 14 across the combined 16 games...hmmm, so defending is getting worse, strikers are getting better, but in Europe, English teams have scored less and conceded less...
I'm sure you've all made up your own mind about why there have been so many goals this season, all I know is I'm confused, but I am enjoying it...however, I would like to see some good old fashioned defending find its way back into the league, crunching tackles, towering headers, positioning and no-nonsense defending....BANG.
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
If you only see one goal from the last week
Slight change once again to the format of my only "regular" piece...basically I've decided that restricting the search to just the weekend means that you fine people are missing out on seeing some absolutely stonking strikes.
This weeks award goes to Rapid Vienna's Christopher Drazan with one straight from the training ground...finished off with a sublimely sweet strike...I love it when a plan comes together.
Honorable mentions also go to Denis Baris and Milan Petrzela for these long run and finishes.
This weeks award goes to Rapid Vienna's Christopher Drazan with one straight from the training ground...finished off with a sublimely sweet strike...I love it when a plan comes together.
Honorable mentions also go to Denis Baris and Milan Petrzela for these long run and finishes.
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