UK Football

photo: Austin Osuide

The defending Premiership and European champs look to be in shambles after dismal performances in the FA Community Shield, carrying over to a worse performance in the start of their Premiership campaign. I know it’s still the start of the season, but they’re really attempting to outdo themselves from the bad start Man U had last season. Not to mention beyond just playing bad, absences will be plaguing the squad for some time now it seems. Given that Ryan Giggs may be out with a hamstring injury against Newcastle, Carrick will be out for three weeks with an ankle injury, Campbell took an knock, Hargreaves will be out for some time yet, not to mention their golden boy Ronaldo. Nani will be suspended for yet one more game, and Anderson is still away on Olympic duty. So for the moment United’s level of depth seems to be failing.

So far the problem on the pitch has been that if you take out the elements of Ronaldo, Carrick and/or Hargreaves, without replacing them with a Nani/Anderson, and United’s scoring ability suffers tremendously as Wayne Rooney can’t do everything himself. All this going against United, and also Carlos Tevez’s family bereavement in Argentina keeping the Argentine from contributing to the club for an undetermined amount of time.

Leaving United with one recourse to turn the tide early on, and set the club on the right path to keep up with England’s top flight once again, that being the purchase of Dimitar Berbatov. Hopefully so many injuries will lead Sir Alex to sign the Bulgarian faster than he may have otherwise been planning, as clearly Man U need another element of depth for the squad.

Although Tottenham has eluded to a possible departure for Berbatov, as the Bulgarian skipper was absent from the starting eleven in Tottenham’s opening fixture against Middlesbrough. Which is confusing should Tottenham be planning on Berbatov staying with the organization, as leaving someone like Berbatov out of a squad means sacrificing the club’s biggest scoring contingent as well as their best set up man.

Not to mention Berbatov has actually said that he wishes Tottenham would let him make his “dream move”.

So here’s to hoping Man U buy Berbatov, should they hope to reclaim their already lost ground in their attempt at holding aloft the Premiership crown for the third time running.

Never looking like the result would end up otherwise, Blackburn were deservedly successful in their match at Everton today. In a game where Blackburn had 76% of possession in the 62 minute, what happened to Everton is the only question that can be ventured. Blackburn is almost expected to be a bit cagey, given the managerial change, and the loss of set up man David Bentley, but the story was very much the opposite. Any meaningful attack the game had to offer came almost exclusively from Blackburn, a few good Everton attacks notwithstanding.

Blackburn struck first as David Dunn netted the ball in the 22 minute, followed by a brilliant free kick from Arteta to answer in the 45th. Everton came out set to win in the second half, no doubt on the heels of a brilliant David Moyes halftime lecture, seeing Yakubu net the ball off a brilliant cross from Arteta in the 64th, only to be immediately answered by Santa Cruz two minutes later. After which Everton never looked confident enough to succeed, and Blackburn were able to net one more in the 93rd as Ooijer pushed them past the Toffees for manager Ince’s first Premier League victory as a manager.

But the real story here is the lack of anything resembling good defending from Everton’s Lescott. Embarrassing is the only term for the ninety minutes the England defender turned in today. Giving up just about every attack that came his way, and being the cause of Santa Cruz’s goal, as Lescott just let Roque march straight past him with little opposition. Begging the question to David Moyes, is Lescott fit to start in the center, if Everton should hope to win another season in the Premiership’s fifth spot or better.

photo: Mark Freeman

Frank Lampard has signed a new five year deal with Chelsea, keeping him with the Blues for the rest of his career, as Lampard is 30.  Despite all the controversy to the contrary, Lampard was apparently holding out for a long term deal, opposed to the shorter deals Chelsea kept offering.  But I believe this to be Chelsea’s smartest decision of the off-season, as Lampard is exactly the player Chelsea needs, should they hope to regain the success of two years ago.  

Hopefully Scolari recognizes this as well, and will keep Deco on the bench for the big games, if favor of Chelsea’s much more reliable Lampard, Ballack combo.  

Despite the tabloid reports, I never believed for a moment that Lampard would leave England, as few English players ever do.  So none of this comes as a surprise.  But considering one of Lampard’s biggest factors in recommitting to the Chelsea campaign is the belief that Phil Scolari can successfully guide Chelsea to victory.  Of which I’m not so sure, as Scolari in my opinion has a history of misusing players.  

Let us not forget that Ronaldo’s under-performing in the Euro competition, as most of it was the misuse of the talented mid-fielder.  Ronaldo needs to be allowed to roam a bit to bring the most attacking power possible.  But Scolari forced Ronaldo into way too much defensive responsibility, and Ronaldo tackles worse than Beckham and Scholes on their worst days.  Ronaldo’s an attacking mid, you can’t have an attacking mid run back to defend, thereby taking him out of the counter attack completely when the opportunity occurs. 

So I guess I’m saying, hopefully for Chelsea fans, Scolari has taken some notes, as to how to use attacking players correctly.  Anelka is still Chelsea’s best forward, after Drogba’s lack of interest with the club.  But Grant never let Anelka play forward like the Frenchman is best at.  Hopefully the Brazilian perspective dictates forward attackers to play forward, or else Chelsea will be in for a long trophyless season. 

John Terry today proves himself to be a very arrogant person, to the extent of which we haven’t yet seen before from the England International. Terry has said that the title will be Chelsea’s this season, as United have hit their peak over the last two years, also saying that Chelsea still have a different level the club can rise to. Terry also spouted such illogical and idiotic quotes:

‘I think Sir Alex realises we weren’t too far away from United when they were at the very top of their game, I don’t think United have another level to go to. They had a lot of players in their team who have been at the peak of their form for the last two years.

‘Rio Ferdinand has been awesome for the last two years and Cristiano Ronaldo was unbelievable - I don’t think you’ll see that again.’

Being overly cocky after having lost the Premiership title two years in a row now, and losing the Champions League final due to your own penalty miss, seems like a bad cerebral strategy. Comments like these just make Terry seem overly confident in a club that desperately needs to relearn playing as one unit on the pitch.

And I still can’t figure out how United being at the peak of their game proves anything as to the reason Chelsea will best them this year. Nor can I figure how Chelsea would be getting the better of United, should United’s luck run out and the team falls apart. Chelsea has underperformed to their standards the last two seasons, considering the small amount of silverware acquired, so how is that showing more depth than United to continue beyond their peak?

Maybe it’s Chelsea that peaked under Mourinho and will now slowly sink back to the middle of the table where the London club was located before their recent run of success. Terry still hasn’t looked the same since his back injury last season, and Drogba couldn’t care less about the club. Cech is a mere shadow of the unstoppable goalkeeping force of the 06/07 season, and Lampard has been too burdened by his personal life to partake in his usual role of rescuing Chelsea. So how is it not Chelsea that peaked a few years ago?

The tale of the tape is that United has improved steadily over the last few years, and there are no signs pointing to the trend slowing down. Whereas Chelsea’s luck seems to be running short, and their second place finish in the Champions League and Premiership seem akin to bad luck from Liverpool and Arsenal, as much as the London club’s own persistence to win.

So I guess what I’m saying is, what are you talking about Terry? Or are you just playing a cerebral game that you aren’t intelligent enough to properly put across?

Mark Hughes is set to abandon his post as Manchester City manager, as the controversy around owner Thaksin Shinawatra was brought to the boiling point yesterday. The Thai manager is out £800million in frozen assets, from his refusal to return to Thailand and face corruption charges, meaning City have little money to pay the teams wages, let alone buy new players. Leading to such a financial crisis that Shinawatra attempted to sell a few of City’s star players under Hughes’ nose, the likes of Ireland and Corluka, just to try and iron out the club’s debt a bit.

So you can understand why Hughes is upset in the first place, and rightfully so. But I can’t believe Shinawatra was stupid enough to ditch City’s best manager in years in Sven Goran Eriksson, but they was lucky enough to land the future legendary manager Mark Hughes, only to piss him off a few months before the season.

Reportedly another reason Hughes is upset, is the absolute lack of financial stability in terms of the club’s future. As Shinawatra in the past had to take out a £2million loan from former chairman John Wardle, just to pay the players wages. The loan has since been paid back, but caused John Wardle to forfeit his position as club chairman in protest of Shinawatra’s ownership. Now the club is being run on short term bank loans, as a means of keeping City afloat long enough to start the Premiership.

So why shouldn’t Mark Hughes leave? I can’t believe with City so tangled financially, and the security of his job disappearing very quickly, that Hughes has even taken this much time to consider his future with City. But I suppose all this is great for Manchester United fans, as now Hughes will be less apt to refuse an offer from United should the time come for Sir Alex Ferguson’s replacement. And more than making Hughes look dishonorable, I think leaving City because of the owners horrible decision making and financial stability, would only be a warning to owners in the future, saying that you have to take care of your club. Not just go out and buy a football organization without having the slightest idea about running it.

It’s Abramovich and Mourinho all over again, only with much less money involved.

Ben Collett has officially been awarded £4.3million for a bad tackle he suffered playing with United’s reserve team in a match against Middlesbrough.  Although the sum isn’t exactly what Collett was seeking, as the former United player-in-training was asking for £16million, considering his skill level would have put his salary at £13,ooo a week at the least, and factoring in a retirement age of 35.  But considering the competitive nature of the Premiership and many players inability to last from 18 to 35, the court’s £4.3million is well more than fair.  

 Yes I understand the controversy is over a horribly mis timed tackle by Gary Smith that even Middlesbrough admits as being a bad tackle, but I am happy Collett didn’t get his full amount of £16million.  Which I know sounds awful, but football is a sport where you have to know the risks, and Collett knew just as every other player on the pitch knows, your career can be over at any time.  Every time you’re on the pitch, you’re only one bad tackle away from never playing agai.  And I pity Collett, that he had the talent to live the dream of playing for a club as big as Manchester United and it was cut short, but long term injury is the risk you take to play the sport.

I am happy he received something however, and £4.3million is well more than enough, also considering the amount could go as high as £4.5million after calculations are made as to Collett’s pension losses and future earnings.  Because he deserves something to help him on his way, some form of severance, but he doesn’t deserve preferential treatment over every other young player whose career has been stopped short over identical circumstances. 

You can’t base everything on speculation, and I’m happy the courts have taken that into account before paying Collett like a top level player for years that couldn’t be played.  And I’m also happy Collett received justice and got fair compensation for a dirty Middlesbrough tackle.  I guess that’s what I’m saying. 

Photo: Paul Blank

The FA Community Shield is never particularly something to get excited about, except for the fact that it marks the return of the English club season. This years contest proved more of the same, in the sense of the match counting as a competitive fixture, but not being played particularly seriously by either manager as the title counts for little in terms of club silverware. But one great thing about the Community Shield is that it’s the first best chance to see how a few of England’s finest are fairing before the season unfolds.

So as Manchester United always looked the better and won after 0-0 in regular time through 3-1 on penalties, let’s analyze the defending Premiership and Champions League title holders first. The first thing that comes to mind is that Manchester United always look to be missing a spark in attack when missing either Ronaldo, or Rooney. But when missing both, the offensive contingent looks especially lethargic, with Giggs and Tevez poor substitutes in terms of attacking prowess these days. Although Tevez won man of the match, and deservedly so, United never looked fit to score against Portsmouth.

The return of Gary Neville should have been more glorious, and may have been, if not for the fact that the defense looked ten times more capable after the skipper was substituted with Wes Brown in the 65th minute. Showing that despite Neville’s former glory, the championship combo should remain Brown, Vidic, Ferdinand and Evra.

Nani showed himself as having all the talent in the world, but still lacking the ability to be a successful part of Manchester United. The big issue this time proving to be his failure to understand United’s attacking flow. Nani frequently slowed play to a crawl during attack, to instead of look for a pass do a few step-overs and then attempt a pass or a cross after the key opportunity, leading to confusion from the rest of the team. And who can forget the Portuguese International’s penchant for grabbing the ground any time a defender looks to be getting the better of him, apparently his rookie season in the Premiership hasn’t taught him any better on the eve of his second trip round the tournament.

Other than that though, given the fact that Rooney and Ronaldo will be back soon, Rooney could be back as soon as next week for United’s first fixture, Manchester United look well more than ready. Pompey on the other hand. . .not so much.

Lackluster defense doesn’t begin to describe the Portsmouth back four. Campbell was the only contingent that perhaps had a redeemable performance, but Distin, Johnson and Hreidarsson were absolutely dreadful. With a big emphasis on Distin who always looked entirely incompetent at any attempt to defend intelligently against the rolling United attack.

Although David James can look forward to holding England’s top spot, as his performance was exceptional. As the 0-0 score sheet would tell, both goalkeepers had a good day, but James had to work by far much harder to keep his net empty for the ninety minutes. Especially against Tevez, who had the best attempt on a pass from Carrick which David James only just saved on his finger tips at full stretch across his goal-line.

But the real story here, is that Pompey need to spend some money on a mid-fielder. Because Crouch and Defoe were nonexistent for most of the match. Nobody was available to feed Crouch the ball, and that’s a huge problem for Redknapp’s newly acquired scoring machine. As Crouch can’t net the ball, if you can’t get him the ball. With Defoe being too selfish to ever look to the big man if the Englishman thinks he has a sniff of a chance, Pompey seriously need to solve the situation before next week.

Although the club likely doesn’t have the money for someone of proper skill, it goes to show you so far that Portsmouth have a way to go to compete with England’s top clubs. But if Redknapp can refocus his defense, and scrap together a few pounds to buy a star mid, Pompey may have a team. Because the scoring contingent of Defoe and Crouch is a perfect match, if only they had a capable crosser coming down the left or right side of the pitch.

Derby County has continued their absolute failure to function as a complete squad in their opener to the Coca Cola Championship season.  Hot off failing to compete at all in the Premiership, being one of the worst teams in the history of the competition in fact, Derby County has now lost to newly promoted Doncaster.  Which is hilarious, because Doncaster doesn’t count as a Championship team, because of their newly promoted status they still have to prove themselves.  And a team that just came from the world’s most competitive league, never really looked as though they had a chance.  Derby is in serious trouble.

I know it’s only the beginning of the season, and I understand on paper the loss doesn’t look so bad as it was 1-0.  But think what this could mean for Derby.  They already have the small reserve parachute of money a club get’s when it’s been relegated to the Championship.  But that’s only going to aide Derby for this season,  after the cash is gone they won’t be able to hold anyone and the club will sink further into oblivion.

Perhaps goalscorer Lewis Guy was lucky when he bulged the back of the net in the 59th minute.  And maybe I’m reading too much into Derby’s seemingly shaken confidence.  But one thing is dreadfully clear.  That being Derby County desperately needs some inspiration to come together as a team, or else suffer the embarrassment of ending up in League 2 after having played Premiership football only two years before.

Photo: Florian K

Finally, after the questionable decision to spend your cash on Robbie Keane instead of longtime target Gareth Barry, Benitez makes a good decision. Previously there were reports of Benitez putting forth interest to sell off Benayoun and Dirk Kuyt, to fund a few more transfers for Liverpool. But now Benitez has thought better of such a bold decision, and decided to keep both players on the roster, which can only prove a golden decision for Liverpool, as Kuyt continues to improve with ever season.

No more is the Netherlands International a lackluster striker pairing, but instead has grown into his defense-flanking right-winger role, extraordinarily well. Kuyt carried the team on several occasions doing as such, and always providing a constant attacking threat in addition to the always dangerous Fernando Torres, and yet still despite so much Champions League success, Benitez thought of selling him. Why?

Dirk Kuyt had his rocky start, testing the water and getting used to the English game. But he’s realized one philosophy that has saved the Dutchman’s career. Never stop running, and now Kuyt is all over the field, from one moment attacking, to the next defending. Then pushing the statement further, by going from defense in Liverpool’s end, to running fast enough to press the attack ahead of most teammates during a counter attack. Kuyt has made himself a golden asset to the Liverpool organization, and it gives the Reds hope that Benitez has realized this and not sold him.

And Yossi Benayoun, well he doesn’t really need me to pump him up. Benitez would have been stupid to sell his golden substitute. Benayoun brings that much needed speed and steady control late in the game, an asset that wins football matches through the silent heroism method. Benayoun has always been an ace up the managers sleeve, and again, it’s hopeful for Liverpudlians that Benitez realized this before he sold the Israeli.

And in a move that should surprise no one, given the nature of the controversy, Cristiano Ronaldo will quite predictably stay with Manchester United. After months of controversy involving misquotations and any number of completely fabricated commentaries, the truth, which should never have been in question, has come out. But my question is, who thought Real Madrid was even a possibility for the talented Portuguese International?

Sir Alex Ferguson, in his 20+ year history with Manchester United, has never sold a player that the Scot did not want to. Such famously big transfers in the past to Real Madrid as Ruud Van Nistelrooy and David Beckham, are classic examples of players Ferguson let leave, because they didn’t work into his plans for United any longer. Cristiano Ronaldo is Fergie’s golden boy, a player that Ferguson has built Manchester United around, so until his contract is up in 2012 I seriously doubt Ronaldo will be wearing white anytime soon, unless it’s in United’s away kit.

Although it’s of note to mention that Ronaldo still wants to play for Real Madrid, and admits as much. But the big factor in his recent exchanges with the press is that Ronaldo is not making any more hints as to how soon a Spain move could present itself. My guess being that Ronaldo will part ways when his contract is indeed up in 2012, but don’t expect anything more before then. I sincerely doubt Malcolm Glazer is in the business of selling his best player, no matter how many pence Real Madrid can scrounge together for United’s golden boy.

Actually on second thought, 2011 is when Ronaldo will depart. Because if Glazer is smart he won’t let the Portuguese leave on a free transfer, not when he could get the better half of 100 million for him.