Congratulations to Manchester City, deserved winners of tonight's Manchester derby, and presumably now winners of the Premier League title. Now that I have got that begrudging praise out of the way, I can concentrate on being critical of Manchester United, and in particular the usually legendary Sir Alex Ferguson. I just can't quite understand the great Scot's team selection or approach to the second half. I can understand the first half tactics, which very nearly came off, but that is about as praising as this article will be about the United boss as far as tonight's proceedings go.
The 4-4 draw with Everton eight days ago saw the best of United's attacking ability - I'm not American so won't be using the term 'offensive' - and the worst of their defensive ability. An injury to Jonny Evans enforced at least one change, and it would have been interesting to see if he had kept his place after a poor display in that game. However, I feel it would have been harsh for him to be dropped after what has been an excellent season by the Ulsterman, and ironically it was an error by his replacement, Chris Smalling, that cost United the game. At right back, Rafael was replaced by Phil Jones. I can understand the theory that Rafael is too gung-ho and that Ferguson wanted to opt for more defensive security, but I am not sure that Jones is the right player to provide that. I simply cannot remember the last time he had a good game. He started the season and his career at the club in sterling form, and received a million and one plaudits. However, whether it is a case of the plaudits going to his head or just a drop in form, he has looked very shoddy at times since, and was wasteful in possession tonight. In attack, Danny Welbeck was dropped after an excellent showing against the Toffees, with Fergie deciding to pack his midfield. Considering the excellent partnership being built up by Welbeck and Wayne Rooney, and the fact that Rooney prefers to play deeper, why didn't Fergie make Welbeck his lone frontman and play Rooney as one of that midfield five? Nani was ineffective and we didn't see too much of Ryan Giggs as an attacking force, so maybe starting Rooney from the left may have offered more balance to the team. Park Ji-Sung was called in as a reinforcement as has happened on many occasions in big games over the years. However, he has usually had much more game time than he has this time around and it was always going to be a big ask for him to come in tonight. He coped admirably for 45 minutes, but it was always going to be a risky selection alongside a 37-year-old and 38-year-old in Paul Scholes and Giggs, with it highly unlikely that all would complete 90 minutes. It was always likely that most or all would need replacing, lessening the flexibility provided by the United bench.
It is the use of the bench that brings up my second criticism of Ferguson tonight. Having seen his plan to stifle City made redundant by Vincent Kompany's stoppage time header, I'm surprised the manager wasn't more proactive at half time. His tactics had only made a fleeting attacking impression on City early in the first half, and were otherwise not designed to lay siege to the opposition, so it was strange to see a lack of change at the break. It took a wasted ten minutes before Fergie acted, bringing on Welbeck for Park, and it then took far too long for further alterations to be made. Antonio Valencia really should have started, providing a more direct threat on the counter than the tricky Nani, and he is also the pick of United's widemen defensively. When he was finally introduced, City had already retreated in to their Nigel de Jong plan, bringing the solid Dutchman on to reinforce their midfield and protect their lead. Ashley Young was the third and final change, and with him came some shockingly wasteful set piece deliveries which seemed the only hope for the Red Devils. Given that United lost anyway by being cautious, why didn't Ferguson throw more at City? What is the worst that could have happened? A defeat? Got that anyway. Perhaps he was belatedly learning a lesson from the 6-1 drubbing at Old Trafford earlier in the season when United's late gung-ho rescue show attempt caused a 3-1 defeat to turn in to a thrashing, but on this occasion it would not have mattered. Because of that hammering, goal difference has pretty much already been decided in City's favour and so United could have afforded to risk falling further behind tonight if it gave them more of a chance of actually getting back in to the game. To lose is bad enough, but to lose gutlessly is worse.
I should probably mention City a little more given they won the game, especially as I happily stated earlier that they were the better side. At the same time, I did not think they were particularly impressive, just better or at least more proactive than their neighbours. The players that impressed me were the ones that are usually unsung, in particular Pablo Zabaleta who I have previously failed to see the point of. Tonight I thought he was superb, voiding any attacking threat United posed down the left and helping his side cause Patrice Evra plenty of problems. Evra was not helped by the lack of any defensive cover, so much so that I would be hard pushed to tell you who was meant to be playing in front of him. It was from a raid down the right hand side that the critical corner was won, powered home by Kompany after some poor marking from Smalling. One poor piece of play destroyed United's game plan, and from then on City were left just needing to do to United what the visitors had been doing to them. Neither keeper had much to do and it was no classic for the neutral. What the game was though was a nervy and tense affair suffering from the weight of importance on its shoulders.
To summarise, I have very rarely seen fit to be critical of Sir Alex Ferguson, and I would have little right to considering everything he has achieved in the game. I just simply can't understand what was in his head tonight and why he seemed to freeze on the big occasion. Many a time his teams have produced memorable comebacks and superb late rallies, but rarely have they had to do it against such a well-organised defensive shield. Tonight called for Ferguson to be more proactive, if not in his starting line up then certainly once his team were behind. It was surely a mistake to leave his key matchwinner Rooney so marginalised on the periphery of the game, and to break up a strike pairing that was so deadly a week ago. Roberto Mancini saw fit to stick with a team that had been performing so well for him recently, and even if he wanted to strengthen defensively, surely Fergie too should have at least stuck with the attack that was firing for him.
Monday, 30 April 2012
Sunday, 29 April 2012
My team of the Premier League 92-12
In writing this article, I have remembered to conveniently forget that football existed before the Premier League. At any given opportunity, the powers that be, and Sky TV, like to harp on about stats and facts about what players and teams have achieve since 1992, as if nothing that went before really happened or mattered. With the Premier League coming to the end of its 20th season since it succeeded the First Division as the top flight of English Football, this trend has intensified further with the decision to award various individuals for their part in the monopolised proceedings. This buzz of debate has been going on for a little while now, but having not had the chance to catch up on yesterday's Match of the Day and feeling there is little to say about today's action other than Torres is back and Blackburn were gutless, I might as well have a go at naming my best XI from the shortlist provided by the official awards panel. Thankfully, the list of individuals available to choose from for this particular award is a bit more representative of the 20 years covered, given how the other awards seem at times to be based heavily on occurrences from the last five years or so, almost like a microcosm inside a microcosm. Perhaps it is assumed that most people can only remember the last few years, making it even easier for us all to forget anything pre-1992 if we can't remember pre-2007.
Nb. I am basing my selections only on the list of options given - there are other players I may have liked to mention in this article but cannot pick them!
For my team, goalkeeper is one of the easiest selections; Peter Schmeichel had it all. He had such presence, such personality and such a wide range of attributes. His distribution was phenomenal, particularly that half-pitch throw that launched a thousand counter attacks. He made stunning saves, including his trademark star jump that utilised ever inch of his giant frame. Of all the top players that Sir Alex Ferguson has had to say goodbye to over the years, the Great Dane arguably proved hardest to replace, with a succession of highly-rated signings floundering in his lumbering presence. Edwin van der Sar finally proved capable of stepping out of that shadow, and was arguably even more reliable than Schmeichel, but he lacked that special something that made Schmeichel every bit as watchable as an outfield player. Special mentions are also warranted for David Seaman, as safe a pair as hands as you could hope for, with his nightmare moments against Nayim and Ronaldinho not happening in Premier League action; Shay Given, who has been a top class performer for the last 15 years without ever being rewarded with the silverware his talent deserved; Petr Cech, who was sensational in his early years at Chelsea, and has also managed to recover his form after some understandably patchy spells following his unfortunate head injury; and Brad Friedel, who has performed at a very high level consistently for a succession of clubs and has remarkably played over 300 successive games in the league.
At right back, Gary Neville just pips Lee Dixon for me. Dixon was part of one of the tightest defensive units around at Arsenal, but Neville was so effective going forward and had a huge impact on Manchester United as club captain in recent years. At left back, the likes of Denis Irwin and Patrice Evra could have continued the Red Devils' domination of this team so far, and a similar mention for Dixon's colleague Nigel Winterburn is deserved. However, I must opt for Ashley Cole who has raised the bar in his position over the last decade. I'm no fan of his as a person, but he has been performing at the highest level for longer than Evra and has had to play against the cream of the world's talent regularly which perhaps was not the case in the days of Irwin and Winterburn. Centre back is a very tough choice, with some outstanding candidates from the last 20 years. Steve Bruce and Paul McGrath were coming to the end of their glittering careers at the beginning of the Premier League era so I am going to look elsewhere, despite the respect I have for both. Jaap Stam, Nemanja Vidic and Marcel Desailly are three rock-hard Europeans who made extremely successful transitions to the fast-paced and physical Premier League. Stam did not stick around for long enough, the one player Fergie admits to having sold too soon, and Desailly was already in his 30th year by the time he arrived at Chelsea. Vidic has been a giant for United in recent seasons, but I feel the need to overlook him for a couple of English centre backs hewn from granite. I could have picked John Terry, I could have picked Rio Ferdinand. Instead, I have gone for Tony Adams, who was John Terry-like before it was possible to be like John Terry, and Sol Campbell, who was a vital part of the only team to go unbeaten for a season.
The list for right midfield is less inspiring than I had imagined, and full of players who never made it to the top of their profession, let alone to be the best in their position over the last 20 years. Cristiano Ronaldo would be an easy pick based on a couple of sensational seasons that blow away anything achieved by any one else on the list. However, he opted to move to Real Madrid rather than staying to become a genuine Premier League legend, and so I must call on David Beckham for his delivery, spectacular goals and his medal haul. The left wing has more quality to select from, with the likes of Robert Pires, Marc Overmars and David Ginola up for grabs. As thrilling as they were to watch, I can only see myself picking Ryan Giggs. Longevity isn't always a guarantee of greatness, but in the case of Giggs it just makes his career all the more remarkable. He has featured heavily in every season of the Premier League, he has scored in every season. He has won the title more times than any other player, Premier League era or before, and could well add another medal this season too. He has gone from being a devastatingly fast winger in to a cultured central player, has extended his career by embracing yoga, and largely kept himself out of the papers for the wrong reasons, the last 12 months and Imogen Thomas excepted. In the centre of midfield, I want to pick nearly every player off the list. I can't believe I am not picking Paul Scholes, who has had a similar career to that of Giggs, only two league winners' medals behind his colleague, and having changed from a striker when he first broke through in to a classy midfielder. He is Sir Bobby Charlton's favourite player, which is as glowing a reference as is available. His passing is as good as anyone, he has a tremendous shot, and he has proven how key he has been to the way United play by the transformation in their season since he returned from retirement. Steven Gerrard also fails to win a place, despite at times being a one-man team for Liverpool, and Frank Lampard does not make the list despite a stunning goals return for a midfielder. Instead, I must go for a pairing of Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira, two of the fiercest competitors the Premier League has ever seen and the driving forces between the two best sides that have played in the competition. The highlight of a season was always Manchester United versus Arsenal and the main attraction was the battle between Keane and Vieira. Games between the clubs are still a good watch, but it is just not the same without these two war horses on show.
How do I pick between the strikers on the list? I could stick a pin in to the list and whichever combination I ended up with would be pretty amazing. But I must pick two... My heart says Eric Cantona, who was my hero as a boy; Dennis Bergkamp and Gianfranco Zola were sensational and up there with Cantona for touch, quality and influence; Robbie Fowler, Ian Wright, Andy Cole and Ruud van Nistelrooy were goal machines. In ten years time, when a similar list is drawn up for 30 years of the Premier League, I am sure Wayne Rooney will be in most people's teams. However, I must opt for a combination of Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry. Shearer is the all time top scorer in the Premier League, winning the title with Blackburn and being top scorer in three separate seasons. Henry is just behind second-placed Cole in the scorers list, but amassed his total in significantly less time. The Frenchman was so devastating with his pace and direct runs, having the ability to win games on his own which Cole never quite possessed. So, that is my team, and I still can't believe I haven't picked Scholes or Cantona.
Schmeichel; Neville, Adams, Campbell, Cole; Beckham, Keane, Vieira, Giggs; Shearer, Henry.
(Subs) Seaman, Irwin, Ferdinand, Scholes, Ginola, Cantona, Bergkamp.
For my team, goalkeeper is one of the easiest selections; Peter Schmeichel had it all. He had such presence, such personality and such a wide range of attributes. His distribution was phenomenal, particularly that half-pitch throw that launched a thousand counter attacks. He made stunning saves, including his trademark star jump that utilised ever inch of his giant frame. Of all the top players that Sir Alex Ferguson has had to say goodbye to over the years, the Great Dane arguably proved hardest to replace, with a succession of highly-rated signings floundering in his lumbering presence. Edwin van der Sar finally proved capable of stepping out of that shadow, and was arguably even more reliable than Schmeichel, but he lacked that special something that made Schmeichel every bit as watchable as an outfield player. Special mentions are also warranted for David Seaman, as safe a pair as hands as you could hope for, with his nightmare moments against Nayim and Ronaldinho not happening in Premier League action; Shay Given, who has been a top class performer for the last 15 years without ever being rewarded with the silverware his talent deserved; Petr Cech, who was sensational in his early years at Chelsea, and has also managed to recover his form after some understandably patchy spells following his unfortunate head injury; and Brad Friedel, who has performed at a very high level consistently for a succession of clubs and has remarkably played over 300 successive games in the league.
At right back, Gary Neville just pips Lee Dixon for me. Dixon was part of one of the tightest defensive units around at Arsenal, but Neville was so effective going forward and had a huge impact on Manchester United as club captain in recent years. At left back, the likes of Denis Irwin and Patrice Evra could have continued the Red Devils' domination of this team so far, and a similar mention for Dixon's colleague Nigel Winterburn is deserved. However, I must opt for Ashley Cole who has raised the bar in his position over the last decade. I'm no fan of his as a person, but he has been performing at the highest level for longer than Evra and has had to play against the cream of the world's talent regularly which perhaps was not the case in the days of Irwin and Winterburn. Centre back is a very tough choice, with some outstanding candidates from the last 20 years. Steve Bruce and Paul McGrath were coming to the end of their glittering careers at the beginning of the Premier League era so I am going to look elsewhere, despite the respect I have for both. Jaap Stam, Nemanja Vidic and Marcel Desailly are three rock-hard Europeans who made extremely successful transitions to the fast-paced and physical Premier League. Stam did not stick around for long enough, the one player Fergie admits to having sold too soon, and Desailly was already in his 30th year by the time he arrived at Chelsea. Vidic has been a giant for United in recent seasons, but I feel the need to overlook him for a couple of English centre backs hewn from granite. I could have picked John Terry, I could have picked Rio Ferdinand. Instead, I have gone for Tony Adams, who was John Terry-like before it was possible to be like John Terry, and Sol Campbell, who was a vital part of the only team to go unbeaten for a season.
The list for right midfield is less inspiring than I had imagined, and full of players who never made it to the top of their profession, let alone to be the best in their position over the last 20 years. Cristiano Ronaldo would be an easy pick based on a couple of sensational seasons that blow away anything achieved by any one else on the list. However, he opted to move to Real Madrid rather than staying to become a genuine Premier League legend, and so I must call on David Beckham for his delivery, spectacular goals and his medal haul. The left wing has more quality to select from, with the likes of Robert Pires, Marc Overmars and David Ginola up for grabs. As thrilling as they were to watch, I can only see myself picking Ryan Giggs. Longevity isn't always a guarantee of greatness, but in the case of Giggs it just makes his career all the more remarkable. He has featured heavily in every season of the Premier League, he has scored in every season. He has won the title more times than any other player, Premier League era or before, and could well add another medal this season too. He has gone from being a devastatingly fast winger in to a cultured central player, has extended his career by embracing yoga, and largely kept himself out of the papers for the wrong reasons, the last 12 months and Imogen Thomas excepted. In the centre of midfield, I want to pick nearly every player off the list. I can't believe I am not picking Paul Scholes, who has had a similar career to that of Giggs, only two league winners' medals behind his colleague, and having changed from a striker when he first broke through in to a classy midfielder. He is Sir Bobby Charlton's favourite player, which is as glowing a reference as is available. His passing is as good as anyone, he has a tremendous shot, and he has proven how key he has been to the way United play by the transformation in their season since he returned from retirement. Steven Gerrard also fails to win a place, despite at times being a one-man team for Liverpool, and Frank Lampard does not make the list despite a stunning goals return for a midfielder. Instead, I must go for a pairing of Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira, two of the fiercest competitors the Premier League has ever seen and the driving forces between the two best sides that have played in the competition. The highlight of a season was always Manchester United versus Arsenal and the main attraction was the battle between Keane and Vieira. Games between the clubs are still a good watch, but it is just not the same without these two war horses on show.
How do I pick between the strikers on the list? I could stick a pin in to the list and whichever combination I ended up with would be pretty amazing. But I must pick two... My heart says Eric Cantona, who was my hero as a boy; Dennis Bergkamp and Gianfranco Zola were sensational and up there with Cantona for touch, quality and influence; Robbie Fowler, Ian Wright, Andy Cole and Ruud van Nistelrooy were goal machines. In ten years time, when a similar list is drawn up for 30 years of the Premier League, I am sure Wayne Rooney will be in most people's teams. However, I must opt for a combination of Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry. Shearer is the all time top scorer in the Premier League, winning the title with Blackburn and being top scorer in three separate seasons. Henry is just behind second-placed Cole in the scorers list, but amassed his total in significantly less time. The Frenchman was so devastating with his pace and direct runs, having the ability to win games on his own which Cole never quite possessed. So, that is my team, and I still can't believe I haven't picked Scholes or Cantona.
Schmeichel; Neville, Adams, Campbell, Cole; Beckham, Keane, Vieira, Giggs; Shearer, Henry.
(Subs) Seaman, Irwin, Ferdinand, Scholes, Ginola, Cantona, Bergkamp.
Thursday, 19 April 2012
The Royals are going up!
Excuse me, at least this once, for being somewhat indulgent with my choice of topic today. I have had a day and half for the euphoria to settle down and the reality to sink in, and now I wish to pen some words of appreciation to Brian McDermott and his admirable Reading side. It is always one of the big challenges of football writing, to try and remain neutral, and is ultimately one of the main reasons why I chose not to follow through with pursuing it as a career after my work with adifferentleague.co.uk. I have teams I like, teams I don't like. Players I like, players I don't like. Etc. Etc. You get the idea. At the same time, I still like to think I do a reasonable job of being as unbiased as I can, even if I would hate to have to sit there being overly congratulatory of Chelsea for beating Barcelona (saying that, I found myself punching the air when they scored - who knew I wanted them to win?!). Back to the main issue - I am a Reading season ticket holder, born in the town and bred nearby, although I currently live elsewhere. Promotion to the Premier League six years ago was awesome, but due to personal circumstances I missed all but two games in that "106" season. This time, I have missed just one home game and made a couple of away trips - to be honest, every home game is like an away trip, and one of those away games was round the corner from where I live! - so it has been that much more special. Having said that, I did not miss a single home game in the two years that Reading were in the top flight and went on numerous away trips, so the actual being in the Premier League might not be quite so special this time around. What is magical about being promoted this time is how unlikely it seemed even a couple of months ago. It has been an unbelievable run with a wonderful end result.
Hopefully I have the most up-to-date figure in my mind of 46 points from a possible 51 - just keep adding 3 to each tally has been the rule in recent weeks - a run of 15 wins and a draw from the last 17 games since a home defeat to Hull, funnily enough the one home game I have missed this season. On a personal note, the last 12 home games I have turned up to have all resulted in wins, which is phenomenal when you consider I have only missed one in that run. After a defeat at home to Cardiff in mid-November, Reading sat 18 points from the top; now, they are 3 points clear. That is quite a swing. The run has not been a fluke, not been lucky. This has been an extremely well organised team playing for each other, and in particular playing for the manager. McDermott is an absolute hero, and the only man who can challenge Steve Coppell for a place in my heart. I will admit to being totally underwhelmed at his appointment in December 2009, when he was chosen as an interim replacement for the sacked Brendan Rodgers (see my previous post From Swans to Spurs? for more on Rodgers). With Rodgers having started to show signs of turning a poor start to the season around, it made little sense from the outside to bring in our former Chief Scout and Reserve Team manager who had no professional first team managerial experience. How wrong could I be? What those of us on the outside did not know was just how ingrained in the club McDermott was, how well he knew the players and the set up and just how adept he was tactically. A heroic FA Cup performance knocking Liverpool out at Anfield helped earn the Heston Blumenthal lookalike the job on a permanent basis and he has made excellent progress ever since.
McDermott himself has said that a year ago he saw few positives to take from a Wembley defeat in the Play-off Final to Swansea, and I'm sure I speak for the thousands of Loyal Royals who were there that day that we were just as distraught as the boss. Not making promotion a year ago meant a need to continue selling our best players each summer to balance the books. Having had to lose Gylfi Sigurdsson the summer before, now Shane Long was gone, the last of our crown jewels. Even Matt Mills moved, someone who was not exactly universally popular with fans despite being captain but who had obviously impressed visiting scouts if not his own support. His multi-million pound move to moneybags Leicester was seen as further indication that we would struggle to live with the big boys in the division this time around, with little prospect of the likes of Long being replaced adequately. Our goalscorer charts suggests that indeed Long was not replaced, although Adam "Alfie" Le Fondre who was the nearest thing to a direct replacement, number 9 shirt and all, has come up trumps when it has really mattered of late after a season of intermittent impressions on the first team. Mills, though, has been replaced with someone far more popular, giant Latvian Kaspars Gorkss earning his second successive promotion having been a stalwart of the QPR side that won the Championship a year ago. Having been denied a place in the Premier League by one of Neil Warnock's less understandable bits of transfer business, he will surely get the chance to play in the big league with the Royals. Even if the squad is strengthened and his place is taken in the starting eleven, Reading surely are too sensible to sell Gorkss and not have him at the very least in the squad. His influence on Alex Pearce alongside him has turned the academy graduate in to a real leader and key player.
January brought with it news of the investment that Sir John Madejski had long talked about looking for, with young Berkshire-educated Russian Anton Zingarevich bringing his family fortune to the table. Whilst the deal has still not formally gone through, Zingarevich injected some funds in to the club to help add a couple of players to the squad as a show of faith, and those signings have helped boost the team in to the stunning run. Of the January signings, only Jason Roberts has had significant time on the pitch, but by all accounts his phenomenal impact has been felt just as much off the pitch as on. Tomasz Cywka and Matthew Connolly, the latter on loan from QPR, have been useful players when called upon, as have more recent loan signings Hayden Mullins and Benik Afobe. It is Roberts that has rightfully had the headlines, but Reading have been a fine example of the importance of being united as a team and as a squad and the newcomers have all contributed to the promotion push. The other advantage of the new ownership-to-be has been that it convinced Jimmy Kebe to sign a new contract when it looked like he may have been off in January, and if not in the summer. Kebe is a strange prospect, someone who can be either devastating or anonymous in equal measures, but he is the one bit of "X Factor" that Reading have, a player who seems to unnerve the opposition just by being there. Keeping him at the club was a moral boost as much as it has proved to be key on the pitch. Now there is no need for Reading to sell the likes of Kebe, or a Long or Sigurdsson, if they don't want to.
Whilst this has been a huge effort from the whole team, a few players deserve special mentions. Adam Federici is my choice for player of the season, the Aussie goalkeeper being an absolute rock and having produced some stunning saves that have been worth numerous points. Previously, he had always seemed to have a few whopping errors in him, often in the same match, but I can hardly think of any this time around. His penalty save against Brighton and his stops against Southampton in successive away games three days apart recently are examples of where he has made a real difference. The central midfield partnership of Jem Karacan and Mikele Leigertwood have been a huge part of the way the team play, and would be unsung heroes to the casual observer. Fortunately, those of us that watch regularly appreciate fully the selfless work they do. It was fitting that Leigertwood scored the goal that clinched promotion, and it was wonderful to see Karacan discharge himself from hospital after an ankle operation to come join in the celebrations with his teammates. Pearce, who I mentioned earlier, has been a rock alongside Gorkss and a much better player than I thought he was capable of. Then there is the skipper, Jobi McAnuff. He can be frustrating on occasions to watch, but he is clearly influential around the team and has lead a brilliant team to some outstanding performances and promotion. The key to Reading, though, is that they are a team. Plenty of times people have looked at the names on the team sheet, even among our own fans, and written them off as individuals. I am sure the same mistake will be made by Premier League fans next season. They would be wise to be cautious, because under Brian McDermott, and with the added boost of some funds from Zingarevich, this is a team that is far superior to the sum of its parts - and those parts just might get even better too.
Hopefully I have the most up-to-date figure in my mind of 46 points from a possible 51 - just keep adding 3 to each tally has been the rule in recent weeks - a run of 15 wins and a draw from the last 17 games since a home defeat to Hull, funnily enough the one home game I have missed this season. On a personal note, the last 12 home games I have turned up to have all resulted in wins, which is phenomenal when you consider I have only missed one in that run. After a defeat at home to Cardiff in mid-November, Reading sat 18 points from the top; now, they are 3 points clear. That is quite a swing. The run has not been a fluke, not been lucky. This has been an extremely well organised team playing for each other, and in particular playing for the manager. McDermott is an absolute hero, and the only man who can challenge Steve Coppell for a place in my heart. I will admit to being totally underwhelmed at his appointment in December 2009, when he was chosen as an interim replacement for the sacked Brendan Rodgers (see my previous post From Swans to Spurs? for more on Rodgers). With Rodgers having started to show signs of turning a poor start to the season around, it made little sense from the outside to bring in our former Chief Scout and Reserve Team manager who had no professional first team managerial experience. How wrong could I be? What those of us on the outside did not know was just how ingrained in the club McDermott was, how well he knew the players and the set up and just how adept he was tactically. A heroic FA Cup performance knocking Liverpool out at Anfield helped earn the Heston Blumenthal lookalike the job on a permanent basis and he has made excellent progress ever since.
McDermott himself has said that a year ago he saw few positives to take from a Wembley defeat in the Play-off Final to Swansea, and I'm sure I speak for the thousands of Loyal Royals who were there that day that we were just as distraught as the boss. Not making promotion a year ago meant a need to continue selling our best players each summer to balance the books. Having had to lose Gylfi Sigurdsson the summer before, now Shane Long was gone, the last of our crown jewels. Even Matt Mills moved, someone who was not exactly universally popular with fans despite being captain but who had obviously impressed visiting scouts if not his own support. His multi-million pound move to moneybags Leicester was seen as further indication that we would struggle to live with the big boys in the division this time around, with little prospect of the likes of Long being replaced adequately. Our goalscorer charts suggests that indeed Long was not replaced, although Adam "Alfie" Le Fondre who was the nearest thing to a direct replacement, number 9 shirt and all, has come up trumps when it has really mattered of late after a season of intermittent impressions on the first team. Mills, though, has been replaced with someone far more popular, giant Latvian Kaspars Gorkss earning his second successive promotion having been a stalwart of the QPR side that won the Championship a year ago. Having been denied a place in the Premier League by one of Neil Warnock's less understandable bits of transfer business, he will surely get the chance to play in the big league with the Royals. Even if the squad is strengthened and his place is taken in the starting eleven, Reading surely are too sensible to sell Gorkss and not have him at the very least in the squad. His influence on Alex Pearce alongside him has turned the academy graduate in to a real leader and key player.
January brought with it news of the investment that Sir John Madejski had long talked about looking for, with young Berkshire-educated Russian Anton Zingarevich bringing his family fortune to the table. Whilst the deal has still not formally gone through, Zingarevich injected some funds in to the club to help add a couple of players to the squad as a show of faith, and those signings have helped boost the team in to the stunning run. Of the January signings, only Jason Roberts has had significant time on the pitch, but by all accounts his phenomenal impact has been felt just as much off the pitch as on. Tomasz Cywka and Matthew Connolly, the latter on loan from QPR, have been useful players when called upon, as have more recent loan signings Hayden Mullins and Benik Afobe. It is Roberts that has rightfully had the headlines, but Reading have been a fine example of the importance of being united as a team and as a squad and the newcomers have all contributed to the promotion push. The other advantage of the new ownership-to-be has been that it convinced Jimmy Kebe to sign a new contract when it looked like he may have been off in January, and if not in the summer. Kebe is a strange prospect, someone who can be either devastating or anonymous in equal measures, but he is the one bit of "X Factor" that Reading have, a player who seems to unnerve the opposition just by being there. Keeping him at the club was a moral boost as much as it has proved to be key on the pitch. Now there is no need for Reading to sell the likes of Kebe, or a Long or Sigurdsson, if they don't want to.
Whilst this has been a huge effort from the whole team, a few players deserve special mentions. Adam Federici is my choice for player of the season, the Aussie goalkeeper being an absolute rock and having produced some stunning saves that have been worth numerous points. Previously, he had always seemed to have a few whopping errors in him, often in the same match, but I can hardly think of any this time around. His penalty save against Brighton and his stops against Southampton in successive away games three days apart recently are examples of where he has made a real difference. The central midfield partnership of Jem Karacan and Mikele Leigertwood have been a huge part of the way the team play, and would be unsung heroes to the casual observer. Fortunately, those of us that watch regularly appreciate fully the selfless work they do. It was fitting that Leigertwood scored the goal that clinched promotion, and it was wonderful to see Karacan discharge himself from hospital after an ankle operation to come join in the celebrations with his teammates. Pearce, who I mentioned earlier, has been a rock alongside Gorkss and a much better player than I thought he was capable of. Then there is the skipper, Jobi McAnuff. He can be frustrating on occasions to watch, but he is clearly influential around the team and has lead a brilliant team to some outstanding performances and promotion. The key to Reading, though, is that they are a team. Plenty of times people have looked at the names on the team sheet, even among our own fans, and written them off as individuals. I am sure the same mistake will be made by Premier League fans next season. They would be wise to be cautious, because under Brian McDermott, and with the added boost of some funds from Zingarevich, this is a team that is far superior to the sum of its parts - and those parts just might get even better too.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
How do you solve a problem like Mario?
In every fall there must be a fall guy. As Manchester City's Premier League title hopes fall away, it is Mario Balotelli who has been selected for the role. In some ways this is a very fair award of blame; in other ways it is just a masking tactic covering up the real faults at the Etihad Stadium. To blame Balotelli for his senseless conduct is all well and good, but he is not responsible for City's dramatic loss of form. City have ten other players on the pitch, plenty of strength on the bench and a manager who has it in his power to leave Balotelli out. They had all these factors at their disposal in the latest slump against Arsenal, so it seems rather rich that the Italian maverick is being blamed for the defeat. Perhaps his late red card denied them any chance of fighting back for a draw, but a solitary point would not have been enough to realistically keep up their diminishing hopes of the title.
The reverse at the Emirates leaves City eight points behind neighbours United with just six games left to play. A victory would have cut the gap back to five points, the status quo before the day's play, meaning City would only have needed United to drop points in one other match, provided they beat their rivals at home in the derby at the end of the month. Now they need United to lose three of their remaining six games, the same number they have lost in the whole of the season to date. Did this last glimmer of hope fade because of Balotelli? Quite simply, no. The mad Mario may have tried his best to get sent off, a shocking early challenge on Alex Song somehow missed by referee Martin Atkinson, but he was on the pitch until a minute was left on the clock, his eventual dismissal for two yellows coming moments after Mikel Arteta's deserved winner. Reading and hearing all the post match comment, it would be easy to receive the impression that the striker was sent off early on, leaving his team a near-impossible task to play an in-form Arsenal with ten men. However, he did not leave them a man short when it really mattered. Now, I am not condoning Balotelli or his actions on the day as he blatantly should have been sent off early. What I am saying is that to blame him for the defeat is ludicrous. City lost because they were outplayed on the day by the better side. Their away form has been very poor recently and has been the main contributory factor to their demise. Can this form all be blamed on Balotelli too? If it can, then there is one man even more to blame for continually picking him: Roberto Mancini. If you blame Balotelli, you have to blame Mancini too.
As a non-City fan, I must admit to enjoying the presence of Balotelli at the Etihad, a loose cannon distraction who seems to hamper his team on and off the field just as often as he helps them with his undoubted ability and goals. Having his antics filling column inches takes the media pressure off the half of Manchester I sympathise far more strongly with, the United half. I am not party to the dressing room at City, just like nearly every other soul with something to say on the matter. I don't know what goes on behind closed doors, just how much Balotelli is affecting morale and concentration at the club. In short, I don't actually know how much blame should be placed on the Sicilian-born striker. What I do know is that if he really is the man to blame, as even his manager has begun to suggest in the fallout of Sunday's game, then surely something should have been done about the problem a long time ago. There are suggestions that Mancini allows Balotelli more licence to offend than he would other players because of some sort of compatriot nepotism. Maybe this is true, or maybe it is because he managed him previously at Inter Milan. Maybe he just hasn't previously seen him as a particularly big problem. Balotelli has come in for constant criticism in the press, and reportedly even from his own team mates, and yet the senior Italian keeps on selecting his junior countryman. If Balotelli really is the problem that it is continually suggested he is, then why does Mancini keep selecting him? Is Balotelli actually harmless? Or is Mancini just foolish?
Moving our concentration back to the Arsenal game, few would have been surprised when Atkinson brought out a second yellow for Balotelli after another daft challenge by the forward. Moments earlier, I had been wondering to myself why Mancini had not yet substituted him, as I viewed him as a ticking time bomb. Minutes before, Sergio Aguero was replaced by Carlos Tevez, following the replacement of Samir Nasri with Aleksandar Kolarov. Why did Mancini not replace Balotelli instead? Why leave a player on the pitch if he is such a potential liability? If Balotelli is to blame for getting himself sent off, which he is, then I also feel the manager needs to take his share of the blame for not using his brain and removing the chance of the situation occurring. Mancini seems to be escaping relatively lightly from his team's collapse, with pundits saying they hope he is given the chance to remain in the job, and even suggesting he has been a gentleman among all the problems with Balotelli and Tevez. To me, it is not a gentleman who continually places a young man who has clear issues in the firing line repeatedly. Mancini may not be able to control his players every minute of the day, may not be able to stop them crashing cars in to women's prisons and setting fireworks off in their bathrooms, but he can remove them from the pitch when they are walking proverbial tightropes instead of leaving them to falter and fall in to the media backlash that inevitably follows. So, how do you solve a problem like Mario? Over to you Roberto - time to earn your massive salary.
The reverse at the Emirates leaves City eight points behind neighbours United with just six games left to play. A victory would have cut the gap back to five points, the status quo before the day's play, meaning City would only have needed United to drop points in one other match, provided they beat their rivals at home in the derby at the end of the month. Now they need United to lose three of their remaining six games, the same number they have lost in the whole of the season to date. Did this last glimmer of hope fade because of Balotelli? Quite simply, no. The mad Mario may have tried his best to get sent off, a shocking early challenge on Alex Song somehow missed by referee Martin Atkinson, but he was on the pitch until a minute was left on the clock, his eventual dismissal for two yellows coming moments after Mikel Arteta's deserved winner. Reading and hearing all the post match comment, it would be easy to receive the impression that the striker was sent off early on, leaving his team a near-impossible task to play an in-form Arsenal with ten men. However, he did not leave them a man short when it really mattered. Now, I am not condoning Balotelli or his actions on the day as he blatantly should have been sent off early. What I am saying is that to blame him for the defeat is ludicrous. City lost because they were outplayed on the day by the better side. Their away form has been very poor recently and has been the main contributory factor to their demise. Can this form all be blamed on Balotelli too? If it can, then there is one man even more to blame for continually picking him: Roberto Mancini. If you blame Balotelli, you have to blame Mancini too.
As a non-City fan, I must admit to enjoying the presence of Balotelli at the Etihad, a loose cannon distraction who seems to hamper his team on and off the field just as often as he helps them with his undoubted ability and goals. Having his antics filling column inches takes the media pressure off the half of Manchester I sympathise far more strongly with, the United half. I am not party to the dressing room at City, just like nearly every other soul with something to say on the matter. I don't know what goes on behind closed doors, just how much Balotelli is affecting morale and concentration at the club. In short, I don't actually know how much blame should be placed on the Sicilian-born striker. What I do know is that if he really is the man to blame, as even his manager has begun to suggest in the fallout of Sunday's game, then surely something should have been done about the problem a long time ago. There are suggestions that Mancini allows Balotelli more licence to offend than he would other players because of some sort of compatriot nepotism. Maybe this is true, or maybe it is because he managed him previously at Inter Milan. Maybe he just hasn't previously seen him as a particularly big problem. Balotelli has come in for constant criticism in the press, and reportedly even from his own team mates, and yet the senior Italian keeps on selecting his junior countryman. If Balotelli really is the problem that it is continually suggested he is, then why does Mancini keep selecting him? Is Balotelli actually harmless? Or is Mancini just foolish?
Moving our concentration back to the Arsenal game, few would have been surprised when Atkinson brought out a second yellow for Balotelli after another daft challenge by the forward. Moments earlier, I had been wondering to myself why Mancini had not yet substituted him, as I viewed him as a ticking time bomb. Minutes before, Sergio Aguero was replaced by Carlos Tevez, following the replacement of Samir Nasri with Aleksandar Kolarov. Why did Mancini not replace Balotelli instead? Why leave a player on the pitch if he is such a potential liability? If Balotelli is to blame for getting himself sent off, which he is, then I also feel the manager needs to take his share of the blame for not using his brain and removing the chance of the situation occurring. Mancini seems to be escaping relatively lightly from his team's collapse, with pundits saying they hope he is given the chance to remain in the job, and even suggesting he has been a gentleman among all the problems with Balotelli and Tevez. To me, it is not a gentleman who continually places a young man who has clear issues in the firing line repeatedly. Mancini may not be able to control his players every minute of the day, may not be able to stop them crashing cars in to women's prisons and setting fireworks off in their bathrooms, but he can remove them from the pitch when they are walking proverbial tightropes instead of leaving them to falter and fall in to the media backlash that inevitably follows. So, how do you solve a problem like Mario? Over to you Roberto - time to earn your massive salary.
Monday, 2 April 2012
Bye bye Big Sam?
On Saturday I had the privilege of being in the away end as Reading came from behind to win 4-2 at West Ham. It was an epic game and a fantastic showing from the Royals fans as the visitors stretched their advantage over the Hammers in the race for promotion to four points. With six games to go, and the form book taken in to consideration, Reading are entitled to consider themselves favourites to clinch automatic promotion alongside current leaders Southampton, although nothing is decided yet. Promotion is not the be all and end all for Brian McDermott's side, and would be a massive bonus that was unexpected and unlikely just a few short months ago when the Royals sat well off the pace after a poor opening to the season left them loitering near the bottom of the table. However, after a superb run of form, including a recent eight wins on the bounce, it would be a shame now if Reading can not edge themselves over the line and earn just a third ever season in the top flight. The six remaining games look very tough on paper: away trips to the Saints, sixth-placed Brighton and fourth-placed Birmingham, and home games against a Leeds side with a point to prove, a rejuvenated Nottingham Forest and the ever-unpredictable Crystal Palace. Yet, Reading seem to be at their best when faced with tough opponents, and facing some of the top sides in the league may just suit them more than Peterborough, Barnsley and Portsmouth who are among the few teams to topple the Royals this season.
For West Ham, the story is very different. As one of the biggest names in the division, expectations placed on the Hammers are very different. Promotion has been seen as a must since the moment they were relegated by a Wigan fightback on the last day of the season almost a year ago. The Hammers looked set to meet those expectations for long spells this season but have seen themselves stumble of late with a succession of draws. Victory over Peterborough last Tuesday looked to have turned the tide but that was quickly stemmed by Saturday's defeat. It has now been six successive home matches that the fans have gone home without seeing their side win, and frustration is increasingly mounting around the Boleyn Ground. Having witnessed the massive queues outside Upton Park train station, it is easy to imagine how the ire multiplies among the supporters as they face the regular prospect of an arduous trip home after yet another victory-less trip to the ground. To make matters worse, each winless affair is accompanied by what is best described as "Allardyce-ball", or simply "hoofball", a most unWest Ham-like way of playing that is really not sitting well with fans brought up on a more attractive brand of football. This is a club that gave us the elegance of Bobby Moore, a club that in recent years has nurtured the likes of Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick. In their place is now a series of long balls aimed at Carlton Cole, a style more befitting of Wimbledon than West Ham.
For the first thirty minutes on Saturday, this style was proving fairly productive, with the Premier League experience of midfield quartet Gary O'Neill, Mark Noble, Kevin Nolan and Matt Taylor at least adding a bit of class to the overly direct tactics. Aided by some highly lenient refereeing by top flight official Chris Foy, who seemed to think he was in a WWE ring every time he let Abdoulaye Faye wrestle Jason Roberts off the ball, the Hammers looked decent value for their one-goal lead. Reading for their part were struggling to find their regular game, awkward in possession and unable to use Roberts as an outlet due to the submission moves offered by Faye. However, the Royals appeared to have a Plan B, something that appeared lacking from the hosts, at least until Allardyce found himself forced to bring on his pocket-sized substitute strikers who are simply not suited to aerial challenges. West Ham's play became too predictable and the plucky Royals hauled themselves back in to the game before half time, leading at the break through two quickfire goals. The second half belonged to Reading, and although Ricardo Vaz Te headed the hosts back to within a goal of parity after the Royals had extended their advantage from the penalty spot, their main threat was over when Cole was substituted. Without Cole's physical presence the regular style of the Hammers became defunct, and it was Reading who grabbed their fourth goal, and were a tight refereeing call away from putting a fifth on the board.
For West Ham fans, winning ugly is not an ideal situation. For West Ham fans, losing ugly is unforgivable. Allardyce's appointment has never quite made sense, his renowned favouring of physical football at odds with the ingrained culture of the club. Perhaps the board felt that a Premier League name was needed to lead a squad of Premier League players back up, but he has sacrificed style for not-quite-enough substance and his time is surely running out. Following their only recent victory, the 2-0 win over Posh, Allardyce hit out at fans who had continuously sang “West Ham United – we play on the floor”. He said he was "sick of all that rubbish", a sign of a less than harmonious relationship between the manager and the supporters. This is dangerous ground for Big Sam to be walking, as the happiness of the fans will surely play a big part in whether he keeps his job or not. Allardyce needs to be aiming for a conciliatory approach rather than taking a belligerent attitude towards the West Ham crowd, or else he might face the axe should the next six games not result in automatic promotion.
For West Ham, the story is very different. As one of the biggest names in the division, expectations placed on the Hammers are very different. Promotion has been seen as a must since the moment they were relegated by a Wigan fightback on the last day of the season almost a year ago. The Hammers looked set to meet those expectations for long spells this season but have seen themselves stumble of late with a succession of draws. Victory over Peterborough last Tuesday looked to have turned the tide but that was quickly stemmed by Saturday's defeat. It has now been six successive home matches that the fans have gone home without seeing their side win, and frustration is increasingly mounting around the Boleyn Ground. Having witnessed the massive queues outside Upton Park train station, it is easy to imagine how the ire multiplies among the supporters as they face the regular prospect of an arduous trip home after yet another victory-less trip to the ground. To make matters worse, each winless affair is accompanied by what is best described as "Allardyce-ball", or simply "hoofball", a most unWest Ham-like way of playing that is really not sitting well with fans brought up on a more attractive brand of football. This is a club that gave us the elegance of Bobby Moore, a club that in recent years has nurtured the likes of Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick. In their place is now a series of long balls aimed at Carlton Cole, a style more befitting of Wimbledon than West Ham.
For the first thirty minutes on Saturday, this style was proving fairly productive, with the Premier League experience of midfield quartet Gary O'Neill, Mark Noble, Kevin Nolan and Matt Taylor at least adding a bit of class to the overly direct tactics. Aided by some highly lenient refereeing by top flight official Chris Foy, who seemed to think he was in a WWE ring every time he let Abdoulaye Faye wrestle Jason Roberts off the ball, the Hammers looked decent value for their one-goal lead. Reading for their part were struggling to find their regular game, awkward in possession and unable to use Roberts as an outlet due to the submission moves offered by Faye. However, the Royals appeared to have a Plan B, something that appeared lacking from the hosts, at least until Allardyce found himself forced to bring on his pocket-sized substitute strikers who are simply not suited to aerial challenges. West Ham's play became too predictable and the plucky Royals hauled themselves back in to the game before half time, leading at the break through two quickfire goals. The second half belonged to Reading, and although Ricardo Vaz Te headed the hosts back to within a goal of parity after the Royals had extended their advantage from the penalty spot, their main threat was over when Cole was substituted. Without Cole's physical presence the regular style of the Hammers became defunct, and it was Reading who grabbed their fourth goal, and were a tight refereeing call away from putting a fifth on the board.
For West Ham fans, winning ugly is not an ideal situation. For West Ham fans, losing ugly is unforgivable. Allardyce's appointment has never quite made sense, his renowned favouring of physical football at odds with the ingrained culture of the club. Perhaps the board felt that a Premier League name was needed to lead a squad of Premier League players back up, but he has sacrificed style for not-quite-enough substance and his time is surely running out. Following their only recent victory, the 2-0 win over Posh, Allardyce hit out at fans who had continuously sang “West Ham United – we play on the floor”. He said he was "sick of all that rubbish", a sign of a less than harmonious relationship between the manager and the supporters. This is dangerous ground for Big Sam to be walking, as the happiness of the fans will surely play a big part in whether he keeps his job or not. Allardyce needs to be aiming for a conciliatory approach rather than taking a belligerent attitude towards the West Ham crowd, or else he might face the axe should the next six games not result in automatic promotion.
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