Tag Futebol

The Europa League as a tournament is getting increasingly unfavourable reviews over the past couple of years, with many managers at the top clubs in the group stage complaining of too many fixtures (although there are only two more games to be played in the Europa League than in the Champions’ League) and long away journeys across Europe, with teams from Ireland to Greece to Sweden to Russia taking part.

Those complainants, though, are missing the point. To a football romantic, away trips to Malta or Slovenia (sorry, Rangers fans) are what European football is all about – playing football around Europe. Tell me, how boring and hypocritical would it be to stage a European Champions’ League just for the clubs of England, France, Holland, Spain, Germany and Italy? Ask some of the biggest names not in Europe this season: Liverpool, Roma, Sevilla, Galataseray, Rangers. They’ll all tell you they’d rather be making the trip to Legia Warsaw than watching it on TV.

For Tottenham Hotspur, this year’s Europa League was clearly initially viewed within the club as a distraction, an obstacle on their path back to fourth place in the more important Premier League. And while everyone appreciates their need to force their way back into the Champions’ League if they are to advance, Spurs themselves are waking up to the beautiful opportunity the Europa League has presented them with.

Harry Redknapp stated at the start of the season that the Europa League was not a priority for Spurs, and re-affirmed his stance by leaving both first-choice ‘keeper Brad Friedel and star playmaker Rafael van der Vaart out of his 25-man senior squad. Although clubs are required to select a 25-man squad from which they are to choose their Europa League teams, they may also register a B-list of players under the age of 21 who have been with the club more than three years. Redknapp’s extensive B-list has so far provided the bulk of the players he has used in Europe.

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Spurs’ youngsters are benefitting massively from this precious opportunity. The team which featured in the second leg of the playoff with Hearts was built around youth-team players. Young striker Harry Kane somewhat outperformed his disinterested strike partner Roman Pavlyuchenko. Andros Townsend was a bundle of energy down the left flank. Jake Livermore and Ryan Fredericks controlled the midfield. There were opportunities for several more of the next generation in the away tie with PAOK, in which Giovani, Iago Falque and Tom Carroll started.

Tonight’s clash with Shamrock Rovers at White Hart Lane will see this trend continued, although this time Redknapp will seek to gain two advantages from the game – not only will he give his starlets more invaluable European experience, he will also use the game to give some fringe senior players, and a few returning from injury, a chance to show themselves worthy of a place in the squad for the North London Derby on Sunday.

Steven Pienaar, Aaron Lennon and Danny Rose are all set to feature alongside the likes of Kane, Townsend et al as Redknapp checks their progress in their return from injuries. Pavlyuchenko and Sebastien Bassong are also expected to appear, having played alongside the youngsters in both the Hearts and PAOK games.

The Europa League may be viewed as a distraction by many, but at Spurs, it is starting to be seen as a more important competition than the club had expected. Redknapp can rotate his squad, evaluate promising talents and reserve players in competitive scenarios, while still bringing in some extra revenue from gate receipts and prize money. Perhaps being part of Europe’s second-tier tournament isn’t such a drag after all.

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While all eyes will undoubtedly be on the Premier League this weekend as Fernando Torres’s old club takes on his new club at Stamford Bridge, there will be another reason to focus attention on the capital’s sporting events – and it has the backing of Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburn.

Saturday morning will see the Fred Perry Table Tennis Urban Cup 2011 reach its crescendo. But this is a football website, I hear you ponder. It is, and while the sport being played at London’s Business Design Centre in Islington will involve tables rather than turf, football will be well represented on the day.

The competition is the result of a collaboration between the English Table Tennis Association (ETTA), Sport England’s Sportsmatch initiative and the Premier League 4 Sports (PL4S) campaign. Over 100,000 youngsters aged 11-14 representing all 20 of the Premier League’s clubs have been taking part in the tournament over the past year and on Saturday, a winner will finally be crowned.

Former Arsenal defender Nigel Winterburn, who has been backing the campaign at the Emirates Stadium this week, says: “When you look back at what the Premier League clubs have done, with the sponsorship of Fred Perry, the community and the initiative of the clubs, it does unbelievable things not only for the sport but also for the kids playing it. A lot of kids have maybe not even thought about table tennis.”

Winterburn, who won the Double under manager Arsene Wenger, has always been a fan of the sport and has a table tennis table at home today. He says: “Obviously I played a team sport, so I love looking at the individual sports and at how someone pits themselves against somebody else, not only through their talent but their mental strength.”

Also backing the initiative is Darius Knight, a 20-year-old British table tennis star and 2012 Olympic hopeful. He says that a lack of funding in the sport is what is holding it back: “With the recession and all the financial problems, they’ve had to cut a lot of the funding and table tennis is one of the sports that got cut massively so it’s been quite difficult financially. I can still do it, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a bit more of a struggle. For England in table tennis there’s only one me but if there was the funding and support, there’d be twenty of me.”

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If you fancy getting yourself down there to support your team (the youngsters will be in club colours), the finals of the Fred Perry Table Tennis Urban Cup 2011 will be held at the Business Design Centre on Upper Street in Islington, between 11am and 5pm on Saturday 5th February.

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So, that time of the year has arrived.

We’re already salivating at the prospect of the new Football League starting again, yet it’s still just out of our grasp and we have to get our fix from the inevitable list of friendly games that are played out in order for our boys to gain some match fitness.

I know that there’s the endless debate about how much you can read into pre-season games. I know that if you win against ‘lower’ opposition then it’s expected and you should be winning, but if you lose then “It’s just a friendly”.

Funnily enough, I also know that if you beat ‘higher’ opposition then you can’t get carried away because “It’s just a friendly” but if you lose, then it’s expected, you should be losing.

Anyway, we’ve had four games of our pre-season campaign so far and we currently have a record of two wins, one defeat and one draw. In my view, the results aren’t really worth looking at, however, what is worth looking at is the fact that a number of players have been praised for the way that they’ve been playing and that some of the new boys are already looking promising.

Our first game saw us take on Stocksbridge Park Steels, a non-league team, in which we finished the game four goals to the good and that saw our recently acquired Scotland international, Chris Maguire, bag two, our new number nine, Gary Madine, snatch one and youngster, Patrick Antelmi grab a fourth. The fact is, yes, we should be winning that game anyway, however, it is nice to see the boys doing so with such conviction.

Next up for the blue and white wizards was Sheffield FC, the world’s oldest football club. Despite dominating possession for practically the full 90 minutes and Chris O’Grady giving the Owls a deserved lead, SFC’s Dan Williams popped up 15 minutes from the end to earn the home team a draw against a heavily altered second-half Wednesday outfit.

With the two local games done and dusted, Dave Jones’ men, along with a number of loyal Wednesdayites, made the trip to Portugal for a couple of games against ‘bigger’ opposition, 18-time Portuguese champions, Sporting Lisbon, and Premier League new boys, Reading.

While we did suffer a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Sporting, thanks to goals from Andre Martins and the very talented young forward with a tremendous name, Ricky van Wolfwinkel, it wasn’t a bad result for a Wednesday side. Especially given that we made a lot of changes, as did they, and that we didn’t have any of our own goalkeepers between the sticks.

Finally, our most recent encounter, against Reading, saw the same result as previous game, however this time it was in our favour. I mean yes, we can’t read too much into a friendly win over Premier League opposition, however goals from Mike Jones and another for Chris O’Grady will give the squad a massive lift ahead of the weekend’s game against Doncaster.

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Like I said, you can’t look into pre-season games too much. You can mourn the defeats and celebrate the victories, however, it all goes out of the window when you actually enter into a game when both teams really give a damn.

For us our first ‘proper’ game will come against Kieran Lee’s old side, Oldham Athletic in the Capital One Cup on August 13th, before that we’ll be meeting Donny, West Brom and Kilmarnock. Undoubtedly I’ll be taking all of those with a pinch of salt, however, if we put in a good performance against Oldham and get a win then maybe, just maybe, I’ll allow myself to start getting a little bit giddy.

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Football is getting more expensive. Everything about it is inflating so rapidly the whole thing could just explode. Ticket prices, T.V. revenues, player prices and player wages are now so high that you could be forgiven for falling behind. For people of the younger generation who’ve grown up alongside the prices, the stories of the old days do not seem real. An old friend (literally), told me that when he was a kid he could get the bus to White Hart Lane, his matchday ticket, programme, chips, and the bus home again and have change from a pound. You would probably assume this man is older than time itself or at least in his 80’s, but he is actually only 55. Six years younger than Arsene Wenger.

This may go some way to explaining some of Arsene’s recent activity in the transfer market. When I saw his bid for Gary Cahill last week it struck me that Mr Wenger may be labouring under the impression that he is still in the early 90’s.

Is Arsene living in his own groundhog year? His Casio Calculator-Watch has gone into meltdown, and Wenger wakes up every New Years Day to find it’s 1992. In response to the harsh recession of 1991, he reduced his £12 million bid for Everton’s Phil Jagielka to £10 million. Sensible man, but I don’t think that’s how people do business these days. You can understand why no-one on the board wants to tell him what year it really is and how much modern players actually cost, they’re making a fortune while he pinches the pennies.

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The £6 million bid for Bolton’s Cahill is such a wonderfully low bid, so brilliantly far away from the Club’s very public valuation that it stands out a mile from all the other business this summer. Just as his tactic of offering less money for Jagielka even though the first bid was rejected also stands out. Perhaps Arsene’s long-standing fear of buying English is preventing him from making a bid that might be accepted. After his disastrous attempts in 2001 that saw him buy Francis Jeffers and Richard Wright in the same season, he may still be scarred and understandably so.

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Wenger’s bids only really seem crazy because the world he is operating in has gone mad, still, it’s his job to stay in touch.

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When Michael Owen popped up to equalise for Manchester United at the weekend it made me question whether his decision to join the Red Devils was the right one for his career. Although making several appearances from the bench this season, it was only his second start for United since a League Cup tie against Scunthorpe – where he was on the score sheet twice. So has Owen wasted his exceptional scoring talent by joining United rather than joining another Premier League club that would’ve seen him play regular first team football?

Any player can be forgiven for wanting to join Manchester United if they’re interested in them and this was the case when Owen joined Old Trafford on a free transfer in 2009. However, he was strongly linked to joining the likes of Hull City, Stoke City and even Wigan Athletic to name a few before Sir Alex Ferguson came in for him. In hindsight, Owen probably expected to have started more games, especially this season where he seems to be the 5th choice striker with the likes of youngsters, Javier Hernandez and Federico Marcheda being more favourable behind Rooney and Berbatov.

Although Ferguson can be forgiven for wanting to give these young forwards as much first team appearances as they can get in order for them to develop, he may be overlooking the experience and skill that Owen brings to the game. It’s already been highlighted in the past that he has lost his pace that made him electric during his Liverpool career, but he still possesses a strikers instinct for finding the back of the net.

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The player’s ambitions have been questioned however, with his reported love for horse racing and being one of the richest Footballers in the world suggests a lack of desire to play week-in-week out for the likes of a Stoke or Wigan in order to prove his critics wrong. Although he’d have more chance of playing time  for these teams, at least at United he can add to his winning medals. And when a player’s career ends it’s the medals that really show for something – just ask former United and Blackburn Rovers defender, David May.

Although Owen may now be given more starts by Ferguson, considering the current form of Rooney, there is a question over his fitness. In his debut season for United, Owen played an important role as a back-up striker like scoring the winning goal in stoppage time against City, a hat-trick in the Champions League away to Wolfsberg and scoring in last year’s League Cup final against Villa. But the latter game was the end to his season when that reoccurring hamstring injury needed surgery once again.

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On the bright side, Owen has been without any serious injuries this season and if he continues to contribute when called upon by Ferguson, perhaps he will gain more minutes on the pitch. If so then his move to Manchester United could be seen as a good one, having a main part in their continued success. However, his contract is set to expire at the end of the season so perhaps Owen could look elsewhere to finish his career – I for one hope that Owen is given a chance to show he can still produce goals at the top level rather than drift out warming up the bench at United.

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West Ham fans are split on the latest transfer reports, after the Mail on Sunday linked the Hammers with moves for Jack Butland and Joe Allen.

It’s been a long season for West Ham fans, but most supporters would agree they do have some very talented players in their squad.

Declan Rice has shown his potential despite his mistake against Arsenal on Sunday, and Arthur Masuaku has proved he can be a valuable weapon for the Hammers if given the correct freedom.

Manuel Lanzini and Marko Arnautovic bring plenty of creativity, pace and goals to the attack, but above all else David Moyes’ side is missing a spine.

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Mark Noble has shown glimpses of his former self but been largely underwhelming, and the goalkeeper situation seems to get worse every week.

Given all of this, it is perhaps no surprise to see the Hammers linked to Stoke City’s Allen and Butland.

The pair may be all set to get relegated, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good enough for the top tier as individuals, and Butland in particular would surely be an upgrade for the Hammers.

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Fans are split on the rumours though, with some asking for both, some wanting neither, and some picking and choosing between the two.

Some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…

If there is one thing missing from this stage of the Premier League campaign, it’s the fact that there is no real title race.

Chelsea are dominating the Premier League, and it seems no one else is going to challenge them for the top spot. If anything, there is more of a battle for the other remaining Champions League places. So is the standard of Premier League slipping?

At this point of the season, Chelsea are just a point better off than they were 12 months ago. But, as I am sure we all remember, it was not a dead cert that Chelsea would win the title. In fact, they finished their season in third place. The top four spots looked very different overall this time last year. Liverpool were in second with 71 points: now they’re in 5th with just 57 points.

Manchester City, on the other hand, were in third after 31 games in April last year. They’re in fourth now, but on a horrendous run of games. The points difference between the side then and now? A staggering nine points. City went on to take the title last year – now, they’ll just be glad to finish within the top four.

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Arsene Wenger’s north London side? Much of the same. At this point, they have just two more points to their name than they did last year, but it just happens to be the difference between sitting in fourth and now in second.

Are the teams getting worse and is the standard dropping? For some sides, the quality of their football has been sub par compared to last year. The current champions Manchester City are falling short of the side they one were. Their recent successive losses show no sign of slowing down, and their manager’s job hangs in the balance.

Liverpool were undoubtedly going to struggle this season. Following the departure of their top goalscorer Luiz Suarez to Barcelona, their attacking presence isn’t what it once was. And surely they have not quite recovered from the loss of last year, and of what could have been.

Manchester United are the new addition to the top four, being the only side to make a noticeable progression over the last year – unsurprisingly since dropping David Moyes for a competent manager. Twelve months ago United were a joke, and now they’re making their way back into Europe.

By next year, with some luck, there will be an actual title race to watch. Chelsea will still be one of the sides to watch, but should have some more serious competition. Manchester United will be looking to make a real mark next year as Louis Van Gaal will have a year’s Premier League experience under his belt.

And Arsenal will probably be in fourth.

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When Liverpool sacked Kenny Dalglish last summer and brought in Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers as replacement I think everyone in the football world was a little shocked, even the fans were a little concerned that Rodgers wasn’t the best choice of manager to replace King Kenny at that time.

The Merseyside club struggled in the Premier League last season and they finished eighth which was their lowest league position since 1994. Even though they won the League Cup and got to the final of The FA cup, their poor league form led to the sacking of Dalglish when the season finished. Rodgers was unveiled as the new manager at Anfield on the June 1st after meeting with Liverpool owners to establish a long-term plan at the club and he has wasted no time in putting that into action.

His long term plan is to:

Buy two or three players over the next few transfer windows to avoid one big spend this summer, enabling Liverpool to recover some of their financial losses Dedicate more focus on developing the youth team so they don’t have to spend huge amounts strengthening the squad Introduce a different tactical approach and style of play which leaves no weaknesses within the team – he is a fan of fast-paced football and a tika-taka type of play and feels he can introduce this at Anfield Rebuild the defence Introduce younger players to the starting XI

Over the last eight months there has definitely been a visible change in the way Liverpool have played. They have suffered injury problems but yet they have still managed to keep in good form and they have definitely played better this year than under Dalglish. They are currently seventh in the league and if the results go in their favour they could still very much be in the race for European football next season.

One of the biggest changes fans will have noticed is Liverpool’s performances against the clubs lower down the table and results have improved immensely compared to last season. They achieved high scoring results against Norwich (5-2), Fulham (4-0), Wigan, QPR and Sunderland (3-0) and there was a distinct change in attitude of the players in these games – they are no longer playing assuming they are going to win – instead they play for the three points.

He bought young fresh talent in the form of Nuri Sahin, Fabio Borini, Oussama Assaidi, Samed Yesil, Daniel Sturridge, Joe Allen and Phillipe Coutinho who are all under the age of 24, and introduced academy product Raheem Sterling to the squad this season which has rejuvenated the tired look that Liverpool possessed last year. The young players are all fast paced which fits into Rodgers proposed change in style of play with extra attention to the attacking aspect of their game.

The Reds boss admits he spent more than he wanted to in the last two transfer windows and admitted even though it was a necessity he doesn’t want to spend that amount again. He has been given £20million to spend this summer and a fair bit of that will be strengthening up the defence after club legend Jamie Carragher retires in May.

In doing some research on whether fans thought Brendan Rodgers could achieve success in the next 2-3 years with his long-term vision, I asked Simon Donegan, a long term fan of The Reds what he thought.

“Rodgers can do it, but will the fans give him time? The old Liverpool had it right throughout the club at all levels. The last few managers have spent too much.

“The future is with the youth and money is needed to extend the ground. Clubs like City, Chelsea and Manchester United will not be allowed to operate with their debts the way they are, if UEFA get their way.

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“It is important we get that right again. Brendan has got to get a squad that believes in him and will play for him. There is still some deadwood to move out. I am going to have to be patient because he still has a lot to learn.”

Brendan Rodgers has been one of the most discussed managers in football this season and it is easy to see why. They might not be winning every game and they still have some way to go but Rodgers has certainly made a difference this year. If he continues with his philosophy then it’s easy to see Anfield rocking again in the coming years.

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They were brothers in attack last season, but Marko Arnautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri find themselves hoping to achieve the same aim with rival Premier League clubs this time around.

Indeed, Arnautovic’s West Ham are now six points clear of the drop zone but defeat to Shaqiri’s Stoke City on Monday night will reduce that buffer to just four, dragging them back into the relegation scrap and giving the Potters hope of escaping it at the final hour.

Both players have very much ascended to talismanic status within their respective teams this season. Arnautovic’s departure from the Bet365 Stadium last summer inadvertently created a chasm of quality that the Switzerland international has done his best to fill with his strongest Premier League season to date in scoring terms. His former team-mate, meanwhile, has increasingly embraced the role of becoming West Ham’s most enigmatic talent under the guidance of David Moyes.

Of course, those roles have translated slightly differently; Shaqiri has become Stoke’s resident No.10 after spending previous campaigns out wide, whereas Arnautovic has moved from the opposite flank in the Potters’ starting XI last season to the potent tip of West Ham’s attack this term.

That’s why Shaqiri has created more than twice as many chances per match this season as the 69-cap Austrian, whereas Arnautovic has completed more dribbles per match than the former Bayern Munich midfielder – who Transfermarkt value at £16.2million.

Both though, have emerged as the standard bearers, taking the game to the opposition almost singlehandedly at times by either scoring or assisting 13 goals apiece in the top flight. Shaqiri has played a hand in 43% of Stoke’s league goals this season – Arnautovic has been involved in 33% of West Ham’s.

Perhaps the resulting question, upon the backdrop of Monday night’s relegation clash at the London Stadium, is therefore obvious; which player would you prefer to have as your team’s talisman for the crunch relegation clash?

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Let us know by voting below…

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Steven Gerrard is a Premier League great. That much is obvious, and his place in the pantheon is assured.

But the Liverpool captain, the talisman of days gone by, is no longer the player that Liverpool need, and this weekend showed it all too clearly.

Liverpool have morphed into a Brendan Rodgers side over the last few seasons. He inherited a team that included an ageing Gerrard and Carragher, a magnificent Luis Suarez, and not much else. Now the last remnants of the old guard are leaving, and Rodgers has built a side that is young, suave and plays football exactly how he wants it played.

In fact, he has built a side that actually can challenge for the title.

But that challenge will come without Gerrard.

Gerrard will leave at the end of the season, so if they challenge next year it will indeed be without Gerrard, unless he comes back on loan. But the challenge will also come without a Gerrard type of player.

Liverpool’s side right now includes some frightening pace, but in the middle of the park, there isn’t too much in the way of power. Jordan Henderson is as close as they come, and while he has some similarities to Gerrard, he is more of a short passing midfielder who looks to bring others into play. Although he does enjoy a good blockbuster strike.

Joe Allen, Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana, Emre Can – these are all players who can play in the centre of the park, but none have the passion and intensity of Gerrard. Coutinho and Lallana, will never play centre midfield of course, but they are players who will drop into that space looking for the ball.

The truth is, this new Liverpool no longer need Gerrard.

They press with intensity – severe intensity – but they are much more measured on the ball than they used to be, and they can pull off some silky smooth moves.

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Last season Gerrard was used in ‘the quarterback role’ – that is, he played in the kind of role that Xabi Alonso plays for Bayern Munich or Andrea Pirlo plays for Juventus. If Gerrard were that kind of player, I feel sure that he’d still have a place in Rodgers’ team. But Gerrard isn’t that kind of player, he is sometimes guilty of being a headless chicken.

That’s not always a bad thing. When you think of Gerrard, you think of the comebacks he inspired in 2005 – against Olympiakos and against AC Milan in the final of the Champions League no less. You might even think of the 2006 FA Cup final, when Gerrard scored two goals and brought Liverpool back from the brink with possibly the most sensational strike in cup final history, just for sheer audacity and precision.

Gerrard, in a rage, is a beast that few teams can live with.

But Liverpool no longer rely on one man to provide intensity; they have a whole team who press in packs. And they no longer need one man to pull them out of trouble. The sale of Suarez shows that Liverpool are now a team who try to have 11 match-winners, not just one.

Gerrard’s 38-second cameo appearance in what might be his final game against the old foe Manchester United at Anfield was a fairly shocking sequence of events. He came on hugely fired up, made a crunching tackle in his typical ‘raging bull’ mode, became frustrated with a bad tackle in return and let his frustration get the better of him.

It was typical whirlwind Gerrard. He tried to do too much, trying to help his teammates, and as a result he left them right in it.

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The irony is, the teammates didn’t really need the help. They needed a lift at half time, sure, but they didn’t need that.

This isn’t the Liverpool of 2005 who need their talismanic hero to pull them from the depths of defeat and drag them to the sweet shores of victory. It’s a sad fact of life that every era must come to an end, but it would be sadder if Liverpool hadn’t planned for that fact.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s era ended at Manchester United, but the Red Devils hadn’t prepared for his departure, and their dominance fizzled. Liverpool, however, have transitioned superbly for the end of the Gerrard era. They now have a squad that is not reliant on him and sadly, they have outgrown their captain.

Gerrard’s final few games as a Liverpool player will probably not be the kinds of games he will have wanted and they won’t be the kinds he will flourish in. It’s the end of the line for a Liverpool legend and there’s no room for sentimentality in football.

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