Forgive my erratic posting schedule. Uni work and other stuff occupy my mind most of the time and will probably be the case until November. Until then bear with me. Not like I have a massive audience to satisfy either.
Moving on, my complete lack of access to any channels on TV showing football leads me to other places to get my fix, namely the internet. I'm pretty sure I watch more highlights than Astro cares to offer. I now get weekly shows for the entire English Football League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, Eredivisie, Scottish Premier League and other leagues I can't be bothered to name. Which means I get to see players from across Europe regularly. And this brings me to my topic. On a side note www.fbtz.com is a great forum and where I get my stuff. Check it out.
Watching the Ligue 1 highlights show, two players stood out. And no they're not obscure, in fact they're the touted future superstars of French football, Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa. I'm sure everyone has heard of them before, and probably even know what I'm going to say about them. However, it's unavoidable. These two ARE the future of the French national team. Benzema was involved in both of Lyon's goals this weekend. He first collected the ball in the opposite half of the field, ran a bit, did a SINGLE natural stepover (take note Robinho, Nani) and comfortably beat his man before finishing at the keeper's near post with his left foot. His second telling contribution was a swift turn and deft lob with his left foot over the opposition defense from his own half which led to a goal. He may not have scored nor was it an assist, however, it was a moment of class, one which completely changed the pace of play and resulted in a goal. It may not sound impressive in words but let me assure you that that finish and lob was simply confirmation that this young man is ready to take on the world. Lyon's annual target to get past the quarterfinals of the Champions League is certainly more realistic with this man's presence in their first XI. There have been rumours of Man City and Man Utd readying bids of £80m for him and although it is likely to be simply talk, it shows how far this striker has come in his short career.
Meanwhile, Hatem Ben Arfa wasn't as impressive but one moment of magic from him resulted in Marseille taking the lead. Receiving the ball in the box, he shimmied and evaded 4 defenders before his placed shot wrongfooted the keeper. Cristiano Ronaldo probably couldn't have done that. He'd probably have gone to ground before he got past one defender. Ben Arfa is another one ready for the big time, I feel. I don't really have much to say about him. I'm simply highlighting his obvious talent. His summer move from Lyon to rivals Marseille may not have been the smartest but at least it ensures he'll be playing week in and out, although it's hard to imagine him not getting a starting spot at most clubs. When he does decide to leave, you can imagine the scramble for his signature. Or he might just end up at Man City.
As for the shambles at Newcastle and Spurs I'm not going to bother talking about that. The simple solution to every problem nowadays is sack the manager and get yourself a foreign owner apparently. The real answer is simply to let the manager handle things and make him SOLELY responsible for running the team (including transfers). Then if and when he screws up, he is SOLELY responsible and sacking him will not cause outrage from fans and force you to sell your luxury toy.
I'd like to end by giving my approval to the small teams that made it to the group stage of the Champions League, ie. CFR Cluj, BATE Borisov, Aalborg BK and Anorthosis Famagusta. Please go and knockout one of the big guns. I could do with watching another fairytale. Money has completely overrun football and it'd be nice to be reminded again what it really is all about.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Back to business
It's been awhile but sadly assignments have to be done. I'm back for the meantime.
At any rate let's focus our attention on the Premiership. Yes the same league that grabs attention every single day and pushes its rivals to the not so glamorous sidelines. Think about it. The coverage of Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga news is an entire galaxy apart from the Premiership. The again we feed the craze so we only have ourselves to blame. But how can you ignore a league in which Robinho joins a mid table team for a British record fee.
At any rate let's focus our attention on the Premiership. Yes the same league that grabs attention every single day and pushes its rivals to the not so glamorous sidelines. Think about it. The coverage of Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga news is an entire galaxy apart from the Premiership. The again we feed the craze so we only have ourselves to blame. But how can you ignore a league in which Robinho joins a mid table team for a British record fee.
Yes, the inevitable topic of ADUG springs up. All I can say is that I went to bed on Monday night and all seemed well. When I woke up, City were suddenly the world's richest club and had broken the British transfer record, signing Robinho for £32.5m. Just 24 hours before, he was declaring his love for Chelsea. Now while most people are getting on his back for following the financially smart option, I thought he had no other choice. Chelsea simply did not want to stump up the extra £4m to get their man. City did. As a result, instead of Robinho aiming to win the Premiership with Chelsea, he's aiming to bring it to City for the first time in their history. Scary. Their owners have already declared their intent on bringing the best football players in the world to this "superclub". Ronaldo, Fabregas, Torres and Messi are just a few names they have made public. This undoubtedly has sparked off rumours of Mark Hughes having no authority over players brought into the club. So far, this has been denied but the situation will certainly crop up again come January 1. It will be interesting to see how Sparky takes control of this cash rich club. He could never have envisaged this situation when he first took over. It's now up to him to deliver, and fast, otherwise we could see a new face in place before the end of the season.
Speaking of sackings and resignations, Newcastle and West Ham have both lost their managers within 24 hours of each other. Kevin Keegan officially resigned from the managerial position at Newcastle yesterday, following Alan Curbishley's example the day before. Both of them cited problems with their clubs' transfer policies leading to their exits. This isn't exactly anything new but it's coming up with increasing regularity. Since when did directors up in the air-conditioned offices bring in players? What good does it do for the club? These directors don't work with the players on the training ground everyday. They don't know their strengths and weaknesses as well as the manager. So why would they have a say in who the club brings in? A manager is the only one who knows his team better than anyone else. Therefore he should be the sole one in charge of bringing in players and moving them out. This relatively simple concept is incomprehensible to many fat men saddled with the uneviable task of carrying chequebooks to offices. If they desperately want to take control of a club, don't hire a manager. Or play fantasy football. Either option works although the former is the most attractive to neutrals.
"I have been left with no choice other than to leave," said Keegan. Some may say this is nothing new from the man who left Newcastle once and England as well instead of sticking it out. But this time you feel it's different. It's like playing Football Manager and not having control over who to buy. What's the point?
We've already seen the consequences of Andriy Shevchenko's nightmare at Chelsea. It took them two years to get rid of him and probably didn't help their objective of breaking even in the coming years. On a completely unrelated note, imagine if Abramovich died tomorrow. Chelsea's reign at the top would end earlier than one cycle of Newcastle's Next Top Manager.
Back onto more pleasant matters (from my perspective at least), Man Utd finally signed Dimitar Berbatov after almost an entire summers of countless stories and rumours. I never really thought they would miss out on him, just a bit frustrated that it took so long to reach a conclusion. They ended up paying over £30m for Berbatov anyway. Why couldn't the deal be reached two weeks ago? We might have a 100% record in the league as well as a Super Cup in our trophy cabinet. Not that it's an important trophy, just for the sake of saying we've won it. At any rate, the goals should start flowing once Berbatov settles in. With support from Tevez/Rooney and Ronaldo, this season should be nothing short of spectacular for Man Utd.
And a slight mention for Amr Zaki here. The Wigan striker has already shown the Premiership what a capable striker he is and Steve Bruce may have got himself a steal. Then again someone else could easily steal him come January. Money is not an issue for most clubs these days. The same can't be said of Wigan.
World Cup qualifiers to look forward to this weekend. Too much for me to keep track off and too much focus on England. So I will talk about neither. However if Andorra do score against England, there's an unavoidable topic to discuss. It would be unheard of. Almost the same as Malaysia stringing 5 passes among themselves without losing the ball.
Speaking of sackings and resignations, Newcastle and West Ham have both lost their managers within 24 hours of each other. Kevin Keegan officially resigned from the managerial position at Newcastle yesterday, following Alan Curbishley's example the day before. Both of them cited problems with their clubs' transfer policies leading to their exits. This isn't exactly anything new but it's coming up with increasing regularity. Since when did directors up in the air-conditioned offices bring in players? What good does it do for the club? These directors don't work with the players on the training ground everyday. They don't know their strengths and weaknesses as well as the manager. So why would they have a say in who the club brings in? A manager is the only one who knows his team better than anyone else. Therefore he should be the sole one in charge of bringing in players and moving them out. This relatively simple concept is incomprehensible to many fat men saddled with the uneviable task of carrying chequebooks to offices. If they desperately want to take control of a club, don't hire a manager. Or play fantasy football. Either option works although the former is the most attractive to neutrals.
"I have been left with no choice other than to leave," said Keegan. Some may say this is nothing new from the man who left Newcastle once and England as well instead of sticking it out. But this time you feel it's different. It's like playing Football Manager and not having control over who to buy. What's the point?
We've already seen the consequences of Andriy Shevchenko's nightmare at Chelsea. It took them two years to get rid of him and probably didn't help their objective of breaking even in the coming years. On a completely unrelated note, imagine if Abramovich died tomorrow. Chelsea's reign at the top would end earlier than one cycle of Newcastle's Next Top Manager.
Back onto more pleasant matters (from my perspective at least), Man Utd finally signed Dimitar Berbatov after almost an entire summers of countless stories and rumours. I never really thought they would miss out on him, just a bit frustrated that it took so long to reach a conclusion. They ended up paying over £30m for Berbatov anyway. Why couldn't the deal be reached two weeks ago? We might have a 100% record in the league as well as a Super Cup in our trophy cabinet. Not that it's an important trophy, just for the sake of saying we've won it. At any rate, the goals should start flowing once Berbatov settles in. With support from Tevez/Rooney and Ronaldo, this season should be nothing short of spectacular for Man Utd.
And a slight mention for Amr Zaki here. The Wigan striker has already shown the Premiership what a capable striker he is and Steve Bruce may have got himself a steal. Then again someone else could easily steal him come January. Money is not an issue for most clubs these days. The same can't be said of Wigan.
World Cup qualifiers to look forward to this weekend. Too much for me to keep track off and too much focus on England. So I will talk about neither. However if Andorra do score against England, there's an unavoidable topic to discuss. It would be unheard of. Almost the same as Malaysia stringing 5 passes among themselves without losing the ball.
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