A popular rumour today is that which links current Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers with a switch to Premier League rivals Tottenham, should Spurs boss Harry Redknapp take up the England job. With Redknapp the popular favourite to manage his country, and the lack of many other credible candidates putting pressure on the FA to do all they can to get their man, a vacancy looks likely to arise at White Hart Lane. Tottenham have had their share of managers over the last couple of decades without any extraordinary success, Martin Jol probably the pick pre-Redknapp in taking them to within a lasagna-sized margin of the Champions League, but even he could not survive the chop. One Juande Ramos later, and Redknapp was the man tasked with taking over a Spurs side who had picked up just two points from the first eight games of the 08/09 season. Redknapp has gone on to produce unexpected results, leading Spurs in to the Champions League quarter finals in 10/11. This season, for a while at least, Spurs were even challenging for the Premier League title, although a marked drop in form coinciding with the "Redknapp for England" rumours has seen their chances evaporate. On top of this relative success, Redknapp has also had Spurs playing some of the most attractive football in England in recent years. All this adds an extra intrigue to the race to be Tottenham boss, should Harry leave; no longer can Spurs experiment with a Christian Gross or a Jacques Santini, they now need someone who can successfully encourage a team to play football that is both easy on the eye and capable of winning big matches.
This is where the rumours about Rodgers come in. Maybe it is a case of journalists attempting to add two and two together and coming out with four point five, but Rodgers' Swansea side arguably play even more attractive football than Spurs. The newly-promoted Swans have earned many plaudits for their style of play, earning comparisons with European Champions Barcelona, the Spaniards having brought slick passing and possession football back in to vogue with their phenomenal success in recent years. Having escaped the relative anonymity of The Championship, at least as far as media coverage goes, the Swans are now heralded for their play, with the likes of Leon Britton and Joe Allen receiving compliments they probably never dreamed of. A year ago, few casual followers of football would have uttered the names Britton and Allen in the same breath as Xavi and Iniesta; now that has changed. Obviously Swansea are not world beaters, not title challengers and not anywhere near as effective as Barcelona. However, this has more to do with a lack of resources preventing them from augmenting the likes of Britton and Allen with top class team mates, rather than the Xavi and Iniesta-comparisons being ridiculous. It is testament to Rodgers that he has managed to create such a watchable side out of a squad that on paper looks very average. At times they have suffered from trying to play the right way against opponents that have superior quality in other areas, but they have also upset the form book on multiple occasions this season, proving that passing the ball well can help David to beat Goliath. As a result, the Swans sit a handsome tenth in the Premier League at present.
The big question is whether Rodgers can make the step up to manage a team where there would be infinitely more pressure on him? With all due respect to Swansea, if their good intentions had flopped and they had headed for a swift return to The Championship, it would not have created too huge a negative buzz about the manager; after all, it was close on thirty years since the Swans had played top flight football so Rodgers was in a win-win situation just by taking them there. At Spurs, big things would be expected from him, with European qualification a minimum and a title challenge the goal. He certainly has a good pedigree, having worked with top stars at Chelsea whilst reserve team manager under Jose Mourinho. He also has vast experience in coaching for a man of just thirty-nine, having spent a decade at Reading with their Academy after seeing his fledgling playing career at the club cut short by injury. However, his early first team managerial career was less convincing. After an unremarkable short stint at Watford, he was poached by the Royals to replace Steve Coppell, a clear case of a favourite son returning home. Unfortunately, things did not gel for Rodgers at Reading, and he was out of the job by Christmas, with Chairman Sir John Madejski swinging the axe on a manager for the first time in a decade. Having been the public choice to take the job, he had fallen down by arriving with an arrogant attitude that did not reflect his actual track record. Youth team and reserve team success and working under the big name of the day is one thing; producing when the pressure is on is another, and Rodgers had little to back up his bold statements. He arrived back at Reading talking about bringing a "World Class Model", presumably a reference to having nabbed Mourinho's philosophies, which has proved to be ironic as he has proven at Swansea that his style of football is very different to that of his Portuguese mentor. The problem was that he was following the most successful manager the Royals had ever had by a long way, and yet he was coming in boasting about being world class. When results didn't go his way, the writing soon appeared on the wall.
That was then. If Rodgers was to walk in to Tottenham with similar bombast, he would at least have his success at Swansea to show as support. Not that I believe he would make such statements any more, as he appears to have helped himself to a few slices of humble pie since those early press conferences at Madejski Stadium. Rodgers deserves a lot of credit for not only taking an unfancied Swansea team in to the Premier League, but also for the manner in which the team have achieved this. It would be a gamble for Tottenham to take him on if Redknapp does go, but a calculated one. Rodgers has worked with the kind of names Tottenham possess and crave, and he favours the kind of football that they want to play. It could be a match made in heaven, it could even be world class.
Friday, 30 March 2012
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Hoddle? Twaddle
Finally, I have a few spare minutes to give my tuppenceworth about the hilarious story that Glenn "Goddle" Hoddle has put his name forward for the England Manager job. The one-time incumbent of the role has said his life would be "incomplete" if he did not get another chance to manager his country. Perhaps Mr Hoddle might like to remember that he had the chance to manager his country for longer than he did, and it was no-one's fault but his own that he decided to start rambling about disabled people and their supposed sins in a past life. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, however crackpot, but it is usually best kept to yourself if you are in a position prone to publicity and you are likely to offend many people. In a similar way, I can probably state my opinion here in a blog very few people will ever read that I consider Hoddle a Bible-bashing has-been who may have been a football manager in a past life, but if I was the main columnist on the BBC website I would probably be best advised to keep that opinion to myself. Then again, people choose to be Christians, but no-one chooses to be disabled (fake benefit-scammers excluded) so his comments are clearly more offensive than mine.
I was roughly entering my teens when Hoddle was previously in charge of England and I recall a man who liked to play three central defenders, a man who gave David Beckham his England debut before leaving him out of England's first World Cup '98 game, and a man who left out England's potential X Factor players, Paul Gascoigne and Matt Le Tissier, from his squad for the same tournament. How England could have done with Le Tiss and his penalty prowess as the goal-shy Paul Ince and David Batty were left to step up and miss penalties in the Second Round defeat to Argentina. Gazza would have been a handy addition, too, having netted in Euro '96 shootouts against Spain and Germany. Perhaps it would be unfair to rank Hoddle's achievements as England manager based on going out in the Second Round, given how valiant ten of the eleven England players were that day (and the subs!) - I surely need not cover in any depth the Beckham sending off - and how close we came to winning when Sol Campbell had a 'winner' ruled out, but I fail to remember England ever impressing me enough in that era to realistically be considered possible winners. Therefore, I would not class Hoddle as anything other than a run-of-the-mill England manager - decent team, not worldbeaters.
That was then, this is now. It is now nearly six years since Hoddle has managed in a conventional way, leaving Wolves after an unsuccessful 18 months that was littered with far too many draws for the team to make progress. His major project in recent years is an interesting one, running an Academy offering young players a second chance after rejection from professional clubs. However, there is a massive difference from being involved with Jerez Industrial and Hyde FC, the partner clubs that the Academy has worked with, and becoming England manager again. Whilst there is hardly a surplus of credible candidates for the role, there must surely be better left-field options should Harry Redknapp and co turn down the job than a blast from the past. I would rather see a recently retired international player or a credible young manager working his way through the leagues given a shot than Hoddle. I'm pretty sure I am not alone, given that it is Hoddle himself doing the touting rather than anyone else having actually suggested he has a chance of the job.
One man who has actually given his support to the idea is Alan Shearer. The former England captain, now working as a BBC pundit, has heralded the abilities of his former international boss, saying that "on the pitch everyone liked him". He also admitted to a slight bias, given that it was Hoddle who gave him the armband - "he gave me the England captaincy so I thought he was fantastic!" If only I could consider Shearer's punditry skills fantastic, then I may actually take on board his backing for Hoddle. Unfortunately, I find Shearer dull and uninspired in his post-playing role, a man lacking any original insight in his analysis which is a real shame when he comes from a position, as the top Premier League goalscorer, which should make him worth listening to. Stating the obvious is not what we tune in to Match of the Day for, and just goes to prove that the best players don't necessarily make the best pundits. Much like the best players don't necessarily make the best managers (Hoddle). Tune in tomorrow as I run the rule over Joe Kinnear's prospects of the England job...
I was roughly entering my teens when Hoddle was previously in charge of England and I recall a man who liked to play three central defenders, a man who gave David Beckham his England debut before leaving him out of England's first World Cup '98 game, and a man who left out England's potential X Factor players, Paul Gascoigne and Matt Le Tissier, from his squad for the same tournament. How England could have done with Le Tiss and his penalty prowess as the goal-shy Paul Ince and David Batty were left to step up and miss penalties in the Second Round defeat to Argentina. Gazza would have been a handy addition, too, having netted in Euro '96 shootouts against Spain and Germany. Perhaps it would be unfair to rank Hoddle's achievements as England manager based on going out in the Second Round, given how valiant ten of the eleven England players were that day (and the subs!) - I surely need not cover in any depth the Beckham sending off - and how close we came to winning when Sol Campbell had a 'winner' ruled out, but I fail to remember England ever impressing me enough in that era to realistically be considered possible winners. Therefore, I would not class Hoddle as anything other than a run-of-the-mill England manager - decent team, not worldbeaters.
That was then, this is now. It is now nearly six years since Hoddle has managed in a conventional way, leaving Wolves after an unsuccessful 18 months that was littered with far too many draws for the team to make progress. His major project in recent years is an interesting one, running an Academy offering young players a second chance after rejection from professional clubs. However, there is a massive difference from being involved with Jerez Industrial and Hyde FC, the partner clubs that the Academy has worked with, and becoming England manager again. Whilst there is hardly a surplus of credible candidates for the role, there must surely be better left-field options should Harry Redknapp and co turn down the job than a blast from the past. I would rather see a recently retired international player or a credible young manager working his way through the leagues given a shot than Hoddle. I'm pretty sure I am not alone, given that it is Hoddle himself doing the touting rather than anyone else having actually suggested he has a chance of the job.
One man who has actually given his support to the idea is Alan Shearer. The former England captain, now working as a BBC pundit, has heralded the abilities of his former international boss, saying that "on the pitch everyone liked him". He also admitted to a slight bias, given that it was Hoddle who gave him the armband - "he gave me the England captaincy so I thought he was fantastic!" If only I could consider Shearer's punditry skills fantastic, then I may actually take on board his backing for Hoddle. Unfortunately, I find Shearer dull and uninspired in his post-playing role, a man lacking any original insight in his analysis which is a real shame when he comes from a position, as the top Premier League goalscorer, which should make him worth listening to. Stating the obvious is not what we tune in to Match of the Day for, and just goes to prove that the best players don't necessarily make the best pundits. Much like the best players don't necessarily make the best managers (Hoddle). Tune in tomorrow as I run the rule over Joe Kinnear's prospects of the England job...
Monday, 26 March 2012
Sign of Champions?
It is time to revisit that old cliche, that it is the sign of Champions to win a game despite not playing well. Manchester United seem to have purchased the rights to that particular cliche years ago and are more than likely working on a film version, so keen were they to publicise it with a dour win over Fulham. The possession stats were predictably one sided, as was the shot count, but this was as far from vintage United as Sir Alex Ferguson will be comfortable his side being for the remainder of the season. The Red Devils were sloppy, wasteful and profligate, a comedy of errors punctuating their possession of the ball. Fulham worked extremely hard defensively without offering much of a threat to David de Gea's goal, although the routine saves the Spaniard made would perhaps have caused him more problems during his early-season wobbles. There was a heart-in-mouth moment for all involved late on when Michael Carrick appeared to foul Danny Murphy just inside the United area but referee Michael Oliver was unmoved and did not award the visitors a chance to equalise from the spot.
The non-penalty is as good a place as any to start any analysis of the game, considering it will end up as the main talking point of a game somewhat devoid of controversial moments. Replays show that it should indeed have been a penalty, but it took those same replays to be certain of the point. At full speed, the only view afforded the referee, it could easily have been viewed as Carrick playing the ball, such was the angle of deflection. Once slowed down, TV cameras yet again allowing pundits a luxury the referee does not enjoy, it becomes clear that Carrick plays Murphy's foot which then moves the ball. Quite why we have an obsession with slow motion replays to labour fruitless points, I am still not clear. You can slow something down as much as you want to show the referee got it wrong, but you can hardly chastise him for it if you have needed slow motion to prove he made the mistake. Obviously it is a talking point, and obviously Fulham will feel aggrieved, but the overall balance of a game and all the other incidents get forgotten when one moment becomes the central focus for debate. Perhaps I should stop here though, as I am sure on another day I will hypocritically slate an official for messing up another key decision - probably one going against my own team, which Fulham are not!
United were worthy winners, just not impressive ones. Having spoken to my Cottagers friend who was sat among the away fans, and will readily admit to baying at the referee for not giving them the penalty, it seems that even he will agree the right team won. However, he, like me, was baffled by some of United's slack passing and wastefulness. We were also in agreement that the role of Mark Schwarzer will likely be underplayed in most reflections of the game, a series of quality saves going under the radar amidst the late almost-drama and the umpteen opportunities and dangerous situations spurned by United's attackers. A strong save from Antonio Valencia and an excellent double-save later on helped keep the score at the low-level that Fulham's overall defensive performance deserved, and the Australian goalkeeper, now 39, deserves the same Old Trafford plaudits for longevity usually bestowed on residents Scholes and Giggs.
The win moves United back to the top of the Premier League, and with a three point gap to their local rivals City with neither side in possession of a game in hand. The goal difference gap has shrunk significantly in recent weeks and it looks increasingly possible that this could be the key factor in deciding which half of Manchester walks away with the trophy. Before tonight, one could easily see United overturning City's three-goal goal difference advantage, such was the ruthlessness they showed in sticking five past Wolves. On tonight's showing, things are less clear, and Fergie may just have to hope his side get a result at the City of Manchester Stadium in a month to help steer the decision towards points instead of goal difference.
The non-penalty is as good a place as any to start any analysis of the game, considering it will end up as the main talking point of a game somewhat devoid of controversial moments. Replays show that it should indeed have been a penalty, but it took those same replays to be certain of the point. At full speed, the only view afforded the referee, it could easily have been viewed as Carrick playing the ball, such was the angle of deflection. Once slowed down, TV cameras yet again allowing pundits a luxury the referee does not enjoy, it becomes clear that Carrick plays Murphy's foot which then moves the ball. Quite why we have an obsession with slow motion replays to labour fruitless points, I am still not clear. You can slow something down as much as you want to show the referee got it wrong, but you can hardly chastise him for it if you have needed slow motion to prove he made the mistake. Obviously it is a talking point, and obviously Fulham will feel aggrieved, but the overall balance of a game and all the other incidents get forgotten when one moment becomes the central focus for debate. Perhaps I should stop here though, as I am sure on another day I will hypocritically slate an official for messing up another key decision - probably one going against my own team, which Fulham are not!
United were worthy winners, just not impressive ones. Having spoken to my Cottagers friend who was sat among the away fans, and will readily admit to baying at the referee for not giving them the penalty, it seems that even he will agree the right team won. However, he, like me, was baffled by some of United's slack passing and wastefulness. We were also in agreement that the role of Mark Schwarzer will likely be underplayed in most reflections of the game, a series of quality saves going under the radar amidst the late almost-drama and the umpteen opportunities and dangerous situations spurned by United's attackers. A strong save from Antonio Valencia and an excellent double-save later on helped keep the score at the low-level that Fulham's overall defensive performance deserved, and the Australian goalkeeper, now 39, deserves the same Old Trafford plaudits for longevity usually bestowed on residents Scholes and Giggs.
The win moves United back to the top of the Premier League, and with a three point gap to their local rivals City with neither side in possession of a game in hand. The goal difference gap has shrunk significantly in recent weeks and it looks increasingly possible that this could be the key factor in deciding which half of Manchester walks away with the trophy. Before tonight, one could easily see United overturning City's three-goal goal difference advantage, such was the ruthlessness they showed in sticking five past Wolves. On tonight's showing, things are less clear, and Fergie may just have to hope his side get a result at the City of Manchester Stadium in a month to help steer the decision towards points instead of goal difference.
Friday, 23 March 2012
Gossip!
It is Friday which generally means a day without fixtures and often a day without massive news stories - the big stories in football generally come from Saturday onwards as a result of the on-field action. That leaves today's blog a little short of inspiration. I could venture some predictions for the weekend's actions - I'm not as for some reason I've never proved very good at doing so; I could muse on the big stories of the day (according to the BBC at least) - but that would mean little more than talking about Sir Alex hitting back at Manchester City's mind games and Harry Redknapp denying that his links to the England job have affected Tottenham's form (must just be a huge coincidence that they suddenly keep losing, then). So what is the plan? Well, let's have a look at the gossip columns from the papers today, because that is a solid use of time... right?
I can't say I've read the article, because that would involve paying to view the Times' website and I have issues with that which I will save for a different day and time, but they are claiming that the next incumbent of the Chelsea hotseat will be Laurent Blanc. Does anyone buy that? I think Blanc may well end up as a future Manchester United manager: he is an ex-player, highly thought of by Fergie and with a good early record in club football after his success at Bordeaux. What is his link to Chelsea though? Why would you get rid of AVB, a successful young manager at Porto who has flopped at Stamford Bridge, and then replace him with Blanc, a successful young manager at Bordeaux who could just as easily flop at Stamford Bridge. What Chelsea need is a properly established name who can stand up to Roman Abramovich and the Chelsea pensioners and hold his own, someone who can handle a bit of adversity safe in the knowledge that their CV is based around more than one year of triumph. If Carlo Ancelotti cannot last even two seasons, including a league and cup double, then I'm not sure at this stage in his career that Blanc would. Guus Hiddink has seemingly been lost to Anzhi Machachkala (I'm delighted to say I spelled that right first time!) but Abramovich should be doing everything he can to get the highly experienced Dutchman in to the job, especially considering his solid performance as a short term measure previously. Meanwhile, The Sun are claiming Pep Guardiola is the man Abramovich wants, but is even the man with the golden touch at Barcelona going to be able to turn water in to wine that quickly at Chelsea? Can he completely change the style of the Blues quickly enough to be successful, given that success at Chelsea has to come instantly to avoid the sack? AVB was hired at great expense and sacked at great expense almost as quickly; clearly Roman has money to burn so Guardiola would have no more guarantees of time to do his stuff than anyone else.
The Daily Mail talk of an outgoing from Stamford Bridge, linking David Luiz to Barcelona. Maybe we haven't yet seen the best of Luiz defensively in England but that doesn't sound to me like the best idea for Barca. Perhaps with the amount of possession that the Catalans enjoy means they don't feel the need to hire defenders that can defend and instead just want another ball-player in their side; alternatively, maybe they just want to replace Carles Puyol with a like-for-like haircut. Inside Futbol claim PSG captain Mamadou Sakho wants his club to sign Didier Drogba, another possible player to exit Chelsea. I could actually see some movement in the opposite direction, with Sakho taking a trip to West London to play in the Premier League. Then again, maybe Sakho should head to Barcelona in the hope that Barca actually decide to sign a defender that can defend.
The Daily Mail also mention that Alberto Aquilani is set to sign permanently for AC Milan from Liverpool. All I can say is: who cares?
The Express have Alex McLeish claiming that Aston Villa's days of big spending are not necessarily over despite their massive recent losses financially. I don't know why clubs feel that the amount of money spent is the key - to me it is how well the money is spent that matters. This is why Arsenal's moderately high spending has not proved particularly fruitful with money spent on Per Mertesacker, Mikel Arteta and Park Chu Young when Demba Ba, Christopher Samba and Scott Parker have all been available either cheaper or for free this season, much better value all round and with no banks broken. Villa have hardly had value for money from their big money signings of late, with Darren Bent a good striker but not £24m worth, and Charles N'Zogbia grossly overpriced considering his lack of impact.
The Daily Mirror believe Raheem Sterling wants to leave Liverpool due to a lack of first team activity. Yes, 17-year-old Raheem Sterling. Either the story is a load of rubbish or he is the most impatient person known to man. He has barely had time to settle on Merseyside, let alone grow into an adult, and yet he already wants to move on. Maybe he should have thought about this before he left QPR in the first place as ironically he probably would have been given a chance there considering their struggles this season. Hopefully this may be a lesson for all the young players who have their heads turned by the money offered by big clubs to legions of teenage prospects, most of whom will never see first team action at their destinations. What needs to happen more often is young players staying at their slightly less glamorous clubs of origin and working their way up that way, because far too many players either lack the patience to succeed or get forgotten too quickly.
I can't say I've read the article, because that would involve paying to view the Times' website and I have issues with that which I will save for a different day and time, but they are claiming that the next incumbent of the Chelsea hotseat will be Laurent Blanc. Does anyone buy that? I think Blanc may well end up as a future Manchester United manager: he is an ex-player, highly thought of by Fergie and with a good early record in club football after his success at Bordeaux. What is his link to Chelsea though? Why would you get rid of AVB, a successful young manager at Porto who has flopped at Stamford Bridge, and then replace him with Blanc, a successful young manager at Bordeaux who could just as easily flop at Stamford Bridge. What Chelsea need is a properly established name who can stand up to Roman Abramovich and the Chelsea pensioners and hold his own, someone who can handle a bit of adversity safe in the knowledge that their CV is based around more than one year of triumph. If Carlo Ancelotti cannot last even two seasons, including a league and cup double, then I'm not sure at this stage in his career that Blanc would. Guus Hiddink has seemingly been lost to Anzhi Machachkala (I'm delighted to say I spelled that right first time!) but Abramovich should be doing everything he can to get the highly experienced Dutchman in to the job, especially considering his solid performance as a short term measure previously. Meanwhile, The Sun are claiming Pep Guardiola is the man Abramovich wants, but is even the man with the golden touch at Barcelona going to be able to turn water in to wine that quickly at Chelsea? Can he completely change the style of the Blues quickly enough to be successful, given that success at Chelsea has to come instantly to avoid the sack? AVB was hired at great expense and sacked at great expense almost as quickly; clearly Roman has money to burn so Guardiola would have no more guarantees of time to do his stuff than anyone else.
The Daily Mail talk of an outgoing from Stamford Bridge, linking David Luiz to Barcelona. Maybe we haven't yet seen the best of Luiz defensively in England but that doesn't sound to me like the best idea for Barca. Perhaps with the amount of possession that the Catalans enjoy means they don't feel the need to hire defenders that can defend and instead just want another ball-player in their side; alternatively, maybe they just want to replace Carles Puyol with a like-for-like haircut. Inside Futbol claim PSG captain Mamadou Sakho wants his club to sign Didier Drogba, another possible player to exit Chelsea. I could actually see some movement in the opposite direction, with Sakho taking a trip to West London to play in the Premier League. Then again, maybe Sakho should head to Barcelona in the hope that Barca actually decide to sign a defender that can defend.
The Daily Mail also mention that Alberto Aquilani is set to sign permanently for AC Milan from Liverpool. All I can say is: who cares?
The Express have Alex McLeish claiming that Aston Villa's days of big spending are not necessarily over despite their massive recent losses financially. I don't know why clubs feel that the amount of money spent is the key - to me it is how well the money is spent that matters. This is why Arsenal's moderately high spending has not proved particularly fruitful with money spent on Per Mertesacker, Mikel Arteta and Park Chu Young when Demba Ba, Christopher Samba and Scott Parker have all been available either cheaper or for free this season, much better value all round and with no banks broken. Villa have hardly had value for money from their big money signings of late, with Darren Bent a good striker but not £24m worth, and Charles N'Zogbia grossly overpriced considering his lack of impact.
The Daily Mirror believe Raheem Sterling wants to leave Liverpool due to a lack of first team activity. Yes, 17-year-old Raheem Sterling. Either the story is a load of rubbish or he is the most impatient person known to man. He has barely had time to settle on Merseyside, let alone grow into an adult, and yet he already wants to move on. Maybe he should have thought about this before he left QPR in the first place as ironically he probably would have been given a chance there considering their struggles this season. Hopefully this may be a lesson for all the young players who have their heads turned by the money offered by big clubs to legions of teenage prospects, most of whom will never see first team action at their destinations. What needs to happen more often is young players staying at their slightly less glamorous clubs of origin and working their way up that way, because far too many players either lack the patience to succeed or get forgotten too quickly.
Thursday, 22 March 2012
QPR's glimmer of hope
Having had a chance to check out the rest of last night's action, it seems only fair to give a mention to QPR. In all honesty, I had written off their chances of even getting a point against Liverpool, even after seeing that Shaun Derry had pulled a goal back. My attentions had turned to writing last night's blog post and I hadn't even checked how the result turned out. I was therefore somewhat stunned to read the score of QPR 3-2 Liverpool. It is an intriguing scoreline and one that makes for a very interesting bottom to the Premier League table. Few would fancy any of the bottom clubs to pick up more than a small handful of points in their remaining games, such has been their poor form overall. However, even fewer would have backed QPR to pick up more than the odd win given the daunting look of their run-in. There was a difficulty in Rangers even being able to climb out of the bottom three at any point, or at least one would have imagined so. Now they sit two points clear of the drop, albeit having played a game more than Bolton - the same Bolton who are clearly still shaken by the harrowing experience of seeing Fabrice Muamba collapse to the turf. There is obviously still a long way to go in this relegation dogfight, and the current table will not decide anything. What you can say, though, is that you would rather be the team in possession of the points at any given stage, given the problems all the sides at the wrong end of the table will have in picking them up.
For QPR, the three points stolen from Liverpool will be all too welcome. With a horrible run of games to come, an unexpected win will be a huge boost to the club, not least as it was a fighting comeback win that showed far more reserve of spirit than anyone thought Mark Hughes' side had. Their next game suddenly looks more winnable too, with Sunderland having lost at another relegation candidate, Blackburn, on Tuesday. Martin O'Neill's side may just have one eye on an FA Cup replay with Everton when Rangers visit at the weekend. It is a must-win game for QPR considering the inform Arsenal and Manchester United surely are a tougher prospect in the two games that follow than fragile Liverpool proved last night. Where QPR have hope is that they possess strikers of genuine quality, particularly Djibril Cisse who will have enjoyed getting one over on his old employers with the equalising goal. Wolves may have Stephen Fletcher, but what use is a ten-a-season striker when the backline have been conceding ten goals over every two games of late? Wigan just don't score goals it seems, and Bolton similarly lack firepower. Goals win games and that is the main thing in QPR's favour as they head in to an almost impossible run of games.
Then there is Liverpool. What looked like a promising season on paper before the big kick off in August has turned in to an underwhelming mess of draws and defeats where victory should have been a near-certainty. Even their seasonal highlight, the Carling Cup win, took a penalty shootout over a Championship club. It is remarkable that they are almost equidistant between 5th place Chelsea and 14th place Norwich, as their bumbling performances do not scream "European chasing" by any stretch (ignoring the fact they have already secured a Europa League spot by winning that shootout with Cardiff) and one would expect them to sit closer to the lower-mid table. Their problems seem to be that their policy of signing big fish from small ponds has not paid off, with the likes of Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing being shown up as distinctly average now that expectations have been placed on their lightweight shoulders. They also have failed to find a solution to their striking problems, relying too heavily on a Uruguayan with a penchant for picking up suspensions and missing easy chances. When a £35m Andy Carroll can't even get a decent run in a side that struggles to score goals, it tells you all you need to know about the success of that signing. Another summer makeover looks likely at Anfield, but there are only so many times big changes can be made before a club becomes completely unstable.
For QPR, the three points stolen from Liverpool will be all too welcome. With a horrible run of games to come, an unexpected win will be a huge boost to the club, not least as it was a fighting comeback win that showed far more reserve of spirit than anyone thought Mark Hughes' side had. Their next game suddenly looks more winnable too, with Sunderland having lost at another relegation candidate, Blackburn, on Tuesday. Martin O'Neill's side may just have one eye on an FA Cup replay with Everton when Rangers visit at the weekend. It is a must-win game for QPR considering the inform Arsenal and Manchester United surely are a tougher prospect in the two games that follow than fragile Liverpool proved last night. Where QPR have hope is that they possess strikers of genuine quality, particularly Djibril Cisse who will have enjoyed getting one over on his old employers with the equalising goal. Wolves may have Stephen Fletcher, but what use is a ten-a-season striker when the backline have been conceding ten goals over every two games of late? Wigan just don't score goals it seems, and Bolton similarly lack firepower. Goals win games and that is the main thing in QPR's favour as they head in to an almost impossible run of games.
Then there is Liverpool. What looked like a promising season on paper before the big kick off in August has turned in to an underwhelming mess of draws and defeats where victory should have been a near-certainty. Even their seasonal highlight, the Carling Cup win, took a penalty shootout over a Championship club. It is remarkable that they are almost equidistant between 5th place Chelsea and 14th place Norwich, as their bumbling performances do not scream "European chasing" by any stretch (ignoring the fact they have already secured a Europa League spot by winning that shootout with Cardiff) and one would expect them to sit closer to the lower-mid table. Their problems seem to be that their policy of signing big fish from small ponds has not paid off, with the likes of Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing being shown up as distinctly average now that expectations have been placed on their lightweight shoulders. They also have failed to find a solution to their striking problems, relying too heavily on a Uruguayan with a penchant for picking up suspensions and missing easy chances. When a £35m Andy Carroll can't even get a decent run in a side that struggles to score goals, it tells you all you need to know about the success of that signing. Another summer makeover looks likely at Anfield, but there are only so many times big changes can be made before a club becomes completely unstable.
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
See-saw City
It's a lesson all football writers quickly learn: never plan what you're going to say too early. This entry was going to be about how Manchester City's loss had given the advantage to neighbours United at the top of the Premier League table; how the Red Devils could now afford to lose the Derby next month at the Etihad and still be favourites for the title. Instead, there is a City comeback win to look back on and an end to Chelsea's mini revival to reflect on.
It is with Chelsea that I start - if I don't, they may end up as just an almost irrelevant footnote. Watching their hard-earned comeback against Napoli a week ago, I was somewhat perturbed to hear the TV commentators eulogising about how tremendous their efforts had been. Whilst this was true, and I even acknowledged it in one of my ultra-rare tweets, I would not be amused if I were a Chelsea fan because I would wonder where that effort and commitment had been all season when it was needed time and again. Mr Acronym, AVB, was clearly an unpopular figure with Chelsea's Home Guard mainstays, but they should have been putting in 100% effort regardless. Why? Because managers come and go - especially at Chelsea - but the fans are there always, and it is the fans that the £100k-a-week-Club should have been fighting tooth and nail for. Tonight, it looked like they were going to continue their improved form with a slightly surprising win against City, but it was not to be. Michael Essien can hardly be blamed for the demise of AVB as he missed most of the Portuguese's reign injured; some of the blame for his involvement in the City equaliser can also be mitigated by having the ball blasted at him from barely a yard, but he should also have learned by now that it is better to take a whack in the face than raise your arms to protect your looks - the result, as usual, was a penalty. Having conceded an equaliser, it was hardly shock of the year to see them concede a winner, Chelsea now topping last year's goals conceded tally, itself the Blues' worst in several years. Gary Cahill looks impressive in the opposition penalty area, but the jury is still out on him in his own box. It was hard enough to work out just how good he was playing in a Bolton team familiar with the concept of shipping five goals in one game, but now the pressure is really on him. As for David Luiz...
Just a couple of dozen minutes after hearing more TV commentators spouting about how Chelsea's revival continues, those same commentators were now proclaiming this to be the sign of Champions from City. Does this result suggest City will go on to be Champions? Who knows. What it does do is ramp up the significance of the Manchester Derby as this was one of the key fixtures the men in Red would have had circled as a possible slip up by their neighbours. The comeback aside, the big talking point of the evening was always going to be the return of Carlos Tevez. It was interesting to note the circumstances of his return, City a goal down and looking like staying four points off the lead. In to this situation, the Argentine was unleashed, the crowd mostly a cacophony of cheers rather than the boos he really deserved. Would he have received the same reaction had his side not seemed desperately in need of his talents? Would he have been so readily forgiven if they had been beating Chelsea and sitting top of the league in spite of his absence? We'll never know, but it does seem that the City fans are either extremely forgiving or rather fickle. If refusing to appear in their prized sky blue shirt wasn't enough, the Manchester mercenary rubbed salt in the wound by skipping of to South America rather than building any bridges. A few accusations of being treated like a dog later - sure to go down well among working class fans who would gladly be treated like cockroaches if they could earn a fraction of his wages - and it is a sign of a desperate club that he has now been forgiven. City representative Patrick Vieira has claimed that Manchester United were desperate in bringing back Paul Scholes; maybe they were, yet there was no pride to be swallowed and no wounds to be forgotten in doing so. The story of Tevez at City is as up and down as the see-saw that was City's performance, up, down, and up again, three points in the bag and all still to play for. Just don't expect the neutrals to be quite so quick to put on their sky-blue-tinted spectacles and hold Tevez in quite the romantic light that the City fans appear to yet again.
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