Tuesday 24 November 2009

Liverpool crash out of Champions League

David N'gog nicks the goal that gave Liverpool hope in Hungary

Liverpool’s awful start to the season got even worse this evening as they were knocked out of the Champions League at the group stage for the first time in 7 years. A 1-0 win away at Debreceni was not enough to keep the Reds alive in the competition, as Italian giants Fiorentina overcame Lyon by the same scoreline sending them through to the next stage.

It was a typically cagey performance from Liverpool over a side whom Fiorentina and Lyon have put 13 goals past in 3 games, with Lyon finishing the group stage at home to the Hungarian champions on the 9th December. It was a performance that summed up the last few months for Rafael Benitez’ side, and one that was certainly not deserving of progression in the competition.

The only goal of the game came after only 4 minutes, when David N’gog poked the ball home inside the 6 yard box. Opportunities were few and far between after that, although Debreceni goalkeeper Vukasin Poleksic made a couple of decent saves to deny Javier Mascherano and Steven Gerrard in the second half. The home side could even have got something out of the match at the end, as both Gergely Rudolf and Adamo Coulibaly had chances to snatch a late equalizer. Nevertheless, it was a proud effort from the group underdogs.

Liverpool now enter the newly named Europa League, for which they were dubbed favourites even before kickoff tonight, further underlining the difficulty of the task Liverpool faced. A chance maybe for Benitez and the boys to salvage some pride from what’s been a pretty woeful campaign so far.

So where have Liverpool gone wrong? I’ve highlighted a few key areas that need looking at if anything is to be rescued from the wreckage that is the 2009/2010 season.

1. Investment in the January transfer window.
Liverpool lack strength in depth, something that the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal don’t. With Fernando Torres out injured, David N’gog starts up front, and although the young Frenchman has netted a few times this season, he’s nowhere near the class of Torres and certainly hasn’t shown enough ability to suggest he could be a regular starter in any competition. The same has to be said for left-back Emiliano Insua who simply isn’t good enough to be playing at this level, at least not yet. He’s been exposed recently by nearly every player that he’s come up against, and hasn’t showed much promise going forward either. Money, as little as Liverpool have at the moment, needs to be spent extremely wisely in January to strengthen the squad.

2. Consistency in selection.
One of the areas that Liverpool perhaps do have reasonable depth is in the centre of defence. Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Sitirios Kyrgiakos, and even Daniel Sanchez Ayala have all been used in the heart of Liverpool’s back line recently, and they’ve failed to settle as a unit. Another 2 goals were conceded at the weekend to Manchester City, to add to the 18 they’d previously conceded in the League. Skrtel hasn’t had his best run of form of late, and Agger is only just recovering from a series of injuries. Kyrgiakos has looked unsteady since his £1.5m summer arrival from AEK Athens, and Carragher has been far from the kind of form he showed last season, and has received much criticism. It’s a tough one for Benitez who is clearly unsure as to what his best pairing is. I say stick with Carra and Agger for now, and get Skrtel training hard and improving his game, and should Agger pick up another knock then the Slovakian International can slot right back in.

3. More creativity in attack.
The loss of Xabi Alonso in the Summer to Real Madrid has received a lot of talk right up to this day. The simple fact is, losing Alonso means losing one of the best playmakers in Europe, and perhaps even the World. Alberto Aquilani was brought in for a big sum of money but spent the first 10 weeks of the season on the sidelines following ankle surgery. That meant that Lucas Leiva would get a long run in the side, and unfortunately despite being a part of Brazil’s recent squads, he doesn’t have anywhere near the level of ability, creativity, or finesse that Alonso brought to the centre of Liverpool’s midfield. It’s been evident that there’s been a shortage of something different, something inventive in the final third, and that’s limited the options that the likes of Dirk Kuyt, and Yossi Benayoun have had coming from wide positions. Getting Aquilani in the side is a must now, and supporting Torres should be the priority, whether that’s supplying him with good service, or making the effort to burst forward and get numbers in the box.

4. A little less conversation, a little more action.
Rafael Benitez’ future has been discussed more than any other Footballing topic this season and it’s clearly having an effect on everyone at the club. Benitez knows he’s under pressure, and so do the players, so I don’t think he needs reminding in every post-match press conference. Let the man get on with his job, and if the time comes to make a change, do it, but without the unnecessary debating, speculating, and whatever else comes with it.

So, there are the 4 key things that need addressing in order to get Liverpool’s season back on track, if that is even possible. They have a chance in the Europa League to get some silverware which would be a decent consolation for exiting the Champions League, and with the Merseyside Derby on Saturday there’s plenty for the Reds to look forward to. No doubt they’ll be chomping at the bit to get a result at Goodison to keep the fans content, and put their European nightmare firmly to the back of their minds.

Wigan players to refund supporters after White Hart Lane drubbing

Following Wigan’s embarrassing defeat at White Hart Lane on Sunday, the players have decided it right to offer all those loyal supporters who travelled down to North London to watch the game a full refund of their ticket, providing they bought it at the ticket offices at the DW Stadium.

Captain Mario Melchiot said;

We feel that as a group of players we badly let down our supporters, and this is a gesture we have to make and pay them back for their tremendous loyalty. There’s not a lot else, just that as a group of professionals we were embarrassed by the way we performed. We feel it was below our standard and this is something we feel we owe to the fans.

That defeat has left Wigan Athletic 15th in the Premier League table after 13 games, 3 points adrift of the relegation zone, and now with a goal difference of -17. Inconsistency is the Latics’ major problem this season. Beating Chelsea being their ultimate high, and obviously this record defeat being the biggest low.

Good luck to Roberto Martinez for getting his players back on track in the next game, an important home tie against high-flying Sunderland.

Sunday 22 November 2009

Rampant Spurs put Wigan to the slaughter

An incredible 5-goal performance from Jermain Defoe inspired a ruthless Spurs to demolish Wigan Athletic 9-1 this afternoon.

Peter Crouch opened the scoring in the first ten minutes with a stooping header, but the home side failed to add to the scoreline before half-time. However, amazingly they netted 8 goals in the second period, with Defoe’s first two coming within just 3 minutes of each other. Paul Scharner did a Thierry Henry to get Wigan seemingly back in the game by clearly using his hand to control the ball before smashing it into the net.

However, that proved to be Wigan’s only moment of joy at the Lane, as Defoe restored the 3 goal cushion just moments later, before Aaron Lennon made it 5-1. Defoe then added two more, and in the process passing Fernando Torres as the League’s highest scorer this season. A David Bentley freekick and a Niko Kranjcar strike capped off a remarkable performance for Harry Redknapp’s men.

Yet more evidence that Spurs in attack are as good as anyone in the Premier League. Once again, an inability to keep a clean sheets highlights that there’s still a lot of work defensively to be done, but I have a feeling ‘arry would have taken this result at the start of the day. Just a hunch.

As for Wigan, Roberto Martinez will probably want the earth to swallow him up tonight. What must those Latics fans be thinking?

Saturday 21 November 2009

Henry saga roars on - Replay, or no replay?

Football’s latest controversy not only lies solely in the hands of Thierry Henry (excuse the pun), but could well be crucial in the development of technology within the game. As Rob asked in his recent post on the incident, what’s it going to take for the authorities to realise technology is required?

Technology aside, the big question is, what happens now? The whole of Ireland has called for the match to be replayed, and understandably so. Henry himself remarked that Ireland “definitely deserve” to qualify for the 2010 World Cup Finals, and a replay would be the “fairest solution”. It’s easy saying that after the deed has been done though.

I’m completely on the side of the Irish on this one. It was an act of blatant cheating on Henry’s behalf, and something that will take an extremely long time to be pushed beneath the surface, if at all. Of course, everybody in the whole World that’s interested in Football, and some people who aren’t, remember Diego Maradona’s “hand of God” in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final. We English are still going on about it to this day. However, I don’t see a replay being beneficial for the game.

There’s no doubt that it was a major incident, that had big repercussions for both the Irish side in not reaching the Finals in South Africa, and for Henry who has been rightly slaughtered in the press. However, where is the line drawn between a major incident and a minor incident? Is it the outcome of the match? The importance of the match? There are dozens of incidents each week – such as a handball that results in a goal, a dive to win a penalty that snatches a draw or a win (a la David N’gog), or a goal in the 5th minute of injury time when only 3 were allocated – in the Premier League, Champions League, World Cup Qualifiers, Lower Leagues and what have you that could be deemed as ‘cheating’, but we don’t have replays of all those matches, simply because we accept what’s happened and move on.

Take Eduardo’s dive in the Champions League against Celtic as an example. There was uproar, calling for the Croatian to be banned, for Arsenal to be disqualified, and all sorts, yet when Eduardo was punished, everyone accepted it and there’s been hardly any talk of it since. Yes, the Henry incident potentially cost Ireland a place in the World Cup, but we can’t give them a replay just because it was an International match that decided who plays in the World Cup and who doesn’t. The World Cup isn’t of importance to a League 2 side battling relegation with their Football League status at threat. How would they feel if exactly the same thing happened in one of their matches and they were relegated as a result of it, yet Ireland got a replay because the competition in matter was the World Cup? It would set an unrealistic precedent that when every time an incident like this happens, there would have to be a replay. It’s not plausible.

I believe the necessary sanction is a ban for Henry from the World Cup next year. There’s no question that it was a deliberate handball. You’d have to be deranged to think otherwise. And who cares that he admitted it? That’s not going to change a thing in Irish minds. Henry is the responsible party for shattering Ireland’s dream, and he should be made to pay by sitting out the whole of the competition and hopefully watching his teammates crash out in the group stages.

Roy Keane laughed the matter off in a press conference, stating that Ireland should “get over it” and move on. Solid words from the Ipswich boss, but try telling a hurting Irish population that to their faces. They’ll take a long time to get over this one.

Sunday 15 November 2009

Brazil 1-0 England: Quality shines through

England’s preparations for next year’s World Cup in South Africa got off to a slow start yesterday as they were confidently beaten by the World No.1 side Brazil. Nilmar’s 47th minute header was enough to see off the challenge of Fabio Capello’s men.

Admittedly it was a second string England side, but one that still consisted of regulars Wayne Rooney, Gareth Barry, and Shaun Wright-Phillips. However, England did learn a valuable lesson, one that they’ll need to revise up to and during next summer’s finals; Keep the ball.

Brazil were by far the better side, and whilst England were without a number of regulars in their XI, so too were the South American giants. Kaka and Dani Alves were arguably the only superstars amongst Dunga’s team. Despite the lack of first choice players on both sides, Brazil passed England off the pitch and showed much more invention and imagination in the final third. In sweltering conditions surely it was obvious that’s what England needed to do? Instead, possession was lost far too easily, and Brazil were seldom made to work hard to close their opponents down or retain the ball when they were in possession.

There’s been lots of talk recently about England’s hopes and chances of lifting the World Cup next year, but on the evidence of last night’s match, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Retaining possession is one of the basics of Football, right through from junior level to the professional game. It’s not especially difficult. A feature of Brazil’s play was how quickly they moved it. Often they’d play 2 or 3 touch Football throughout the match and they made it very difficult for England to win it back. A weary looking England was evidence of that at the end of the match.

Perhaps a stronger England side would have created a different outcome and produced a better performance. It was a chance for the fringe players to put their case forward to Mr. Capello before he picks his squad for the finals sometime next year. Unfortunately they’ll be some disappointed members of that particular England squad, none more so than Wes Brown, who I thought was distinctly average. His error mid-way through the second half allowed Nilmar in to win a penalty from the outstretched Ben Foster, who was lucky to stay on the pitch.

As the party settle back in England, they’ll be a lot for Capello to ponder ahead of the World Cup draw in early December.

Wednesday 4 November 2009

Arsenal's young guns set the standard

Arsenal are a rather special team, for many reasons. Manager Arsene Wenger has been in the job for more than a decade, which is an achievement in itself. In a day and age whereby managers come and go like candidates to be Sir Alan Sugar’s apprentice, 10 years in the job deserves a gold medal.

Secondly, the players he possesses in his vastly-talented squad. Down the years Wenger has constructed a young, agile, attacking side and has received a lot of criticism for not having a big ball-winner in the ranks. Especially since Patrick Vieira left. However, evidence this season suggests that Wenger knows exactly what he is doing.

Arsenal won the FA Youth Cup last season, which goes a long way to underlining the enormous potential that the next generation at the Emirates possess. Now, most of those players have gained some form of first-team experience, whether as a late substitute in the Premier League or even Champions League, or maybe starting in the early rounds of the Carling Cup. At some stage, that potential has been on show, and boy have people been impressed.

The recent 2-1 victory over Liverpool in the Carling Cup completely emphasises where Arsenal stand in relation to other sides in the League when it comes to their ’second string’ team. Compare the likes of Craig Eastmond, Kerrea Gilbert, and Kieran Gibbs to Liverpool’s Damien Plessis, Philipp Degen, and Emiliano Insua, and the Arsenal guys are streets ahead in terms of talent and ability. Even though Degen and Insua are full Internationals, the standard of Arsenal’s teenagers is far higher than that of Liverpool’s.

Throughout the age groups Arsenal’s youngsters are taught nothing but how to keep possession of the ball. There’s very little on anything else. Credit must be given to the backroom staff and Academy coaches at Arsenal who clearly do a wonderful job of improving these youngsters and making them exceptional footballers. At times during the Liverpool match, they kept the ball for 20+ passes whilst playing one and two touch football; just an incredible thing to be able to do at the age of 17/18/19 against Premier League opposition.

Arsene Wenger is without doubt the best in the world at getting the best out of his young guns, and inspiring them to play out of their skin. Year after year more talent is brought in from abroad, and brought through the youth ranks to compete at the highest level, and year after year they impress. It’s like a conveyor belt of outstanding talent.
So Arsenal have set the standard when it comes to their Youth development system and the players they bring through. The question is, will anybody be able to compete with them in 5/10 years time?

The fact that Arsenal haven’t won any silverware in the last 5 years may suggest that all the hard work pumped into the academy is going to waste. However, it takes time to develop a side of such raw talent into one that will become world-beaters if you like. Take Cesc Fabregas for example. A couple of years ago he was an outstanding player, but there were still aspects to his game that needed improvement and honing. Now he seems to be the complete player. With several players of similar potential to Fabregas coming through, if they can reach maximum potential in the next few years then Arsenal have a team full of superstars in the making. 5 or 6 Cesc Fabregas’ in the side makes for a cup-winning generation.

It’s worrying for the other sides in the Premier League that they don’t have the same potential. It’s unquestionable that Manchester United have a world-class youth setup, and the same goes for Chelsea, but neither side has brought through the kind of talent that Arsenal are showing off, perhaps with the exception of Federico Macheda. As for Chelsea, well their side is made of over-30’s with very little youth being filtered through. Roman’s billions have obviously blocked the route for youngsters through to the first team. That’s probably another area that Arsenal have got right.

The Gunners have spent money on recruiting players from around the world (e.g Andrei Arshavin, Thomas Vermaelen) but they’ve also left plenty of room to enable them to filter through their youngsters in order to give them invaluable experience at the top level. It’s an area that other teams can take example from in order to progress their homegrown footballers.

One thing that will be interesting to see this season with Arsenal, is that if they make it to the final of the Carling Cup or FA Cup with the youngsters they’re putting out, will Wenger stick with them for that crunch game against, say, Manchester United with the Rooney’s and Berbatov’s? One thing’s for sure; Arsenal will be a side to look out for in the next few years, and they’ll have a few players who make it very big in the footballing world.

Sunday 1 November 2009

Stoke exceed expectations as they push for top half finish

Glenn Whelan celebrates his winner against Spurs

People have taken to Stoke like a bumble bee takes to honey. They arrived in the Premier League 18 months ago with the expectation that they wouldn’t be strong enough to stay in the division. Now, as a new decade is on the horizon, the Potters have done more than just keep their Premier League status.

Their direct style is typical of Northern sides; Bolton and Blackburn are easily comparable. A whole host of 6ft+ men make them extremely hard to break down and compete with, and with one of the county’s longest throwers of a Football in their ranks – Rory Delap – they’re also a force in the final 3rd. The likes of Abdoulaye Faye and Robert Huth provide excellent strength at the back, while James Beattie is a proven goalscorer up top.

It’s not rocket science to work out their secret then. One of the heroes of the Stoke side in recent years, in particular their key to survival last season, Ryan Shawcross is a perfect symbol of their style of play. A shaven-headed, 6′3″ centre-half from Manchester, Shawcross learnt his trade at United before being loaned out to the Midlands Club with a view to a permanent deal. In his first season at the Britannia Stadium, the season in which Stoke gained promotion from the Championship, Shawcross netted an impressive 7 goals from the back. His height is very dangerous from set-plays, in particular those Delap throws from either side.

Despite Stoke’s excellent start to the new campaign, manager Tony Pulis is refusing to get carried away and claims that he’s still concentrating on avoiding the drop. Stoke lie in 9th after 11 games, just one point behind Sunderland and only 3 off 4th place. A last-ditch win at White Hart Lane last weekend got people talking about a possible top 7 finish and therefore qualification into Europe. Chris Kamara, presenter of Goals on Sunday and much-loved pundit/commentator, admits that he backs them to clinch a Europa League spot too.

It’s a fact that the big teams find it very difficult to go to Stoke and get a result. They have arguably the best fan base in the Premier League in terms of passionate support. They make the Britannia a very hostile place to visit and make it very hard for visiting teams to play their Football. Arsenal and Liverpool found that out last season, and Manchester United almost slipped up earlier on this year as well.

A team like Arsenal, full of wonderful Footballers but not necessarily battlers, would be ideal prey for Stoke who would concentrate on kicking them off the pitch. Entirely fairly of course. That’s why teams will seldom take points from them at the Britannia. Home form will be crucial to determine Stoke’s season, as their away form can be very inconsistent, although pretty decent so far. They’ve lost only one on the road this season, that a 4-0 crushing at Anfield. Draws at Bolton, Birmingham, and Everton were followed by that impressive win against Spurs. However, last season’s form on the road suggests that there has to be caution about how they approach games against Hull and Blackburn away from home. They’d expect themselves to pick up points in these kind of games, yet can’t be too complacent.

So European contenders or mid-table solidity? Perhaps Europe is a bit of an ask at this stage. There are still better teams in the League who can do more than just battle. But they’re certainly heading in the right direction, and with the fans right behind them at the Britannia, who knows what may come about by the end of the season.