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Football football. Football football.

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19:57 / 15.12.05

so, roy's a bhoy! keane signed with the hoops while waiting for real madrid to stop faffing about... too late!

good, now hearts can beat him...

18:05 / 18.12.05

Ohhh, so Man U are having a crisis (yeah, I know that they are out of the champions league - big money loss, and players are going and not coming) but yet, here they are in 2nd place, with Arsenal, no talk of crisis, languishing in 8th place - 8TH! They could do something agianst Real, seeing as Madrid are kind of struggling themselves, and Chelsea Barca should be another great match, but the Premiership is looking sewn up now. With only the race for the next three spots something of a contention issue - will Liverpool stay up there, can Tottenham keep being so entertaining and stay above Arsenal?

Why do I care? Well, when your team loses 3-1 to Scunthorpe, you just got to find entertainment in the beautiful game somewhere else.

19:50 / 18.12.05

o benny, how awful! as a palace fan, i commiserate with your predicament...

'pool lost the world cup. still, they must have fun, the lads...

and i played three and a half games of 20min halves mixed football yesterday for some african charity at my uni - we were mozambique and we hammered zimbabwe 12-0, egypt 10-1 and played morocco in the final and won 8-2. mo-zam-bique!! (the half was a s subs for tunisia who couldn't field a side - normally a 'keeper, i had a run as a sweeper. too much running. s'why i keep!)

what a beautiful game.

15:40 / 12.01.06

Forest have once again outdone themselves on the transfer front this window, signing three players, and making a loan deal permanent - so we have a new defender, new midfielder and new forward, on the plus side all young, and all able in the lower divisions - let's hope they don't do themselves an injury...

Oh, and I scored a goal from just inside my own half - yeah it bounced and caught the keeper out, and yeah, it wasn't intentional, but goal, from inside my own half - ha, have that Pele.

11:43 / 19.01.06

Seems Arsenal have agreed to pay Southampton £12m for 16 year old Theo Walcott ("the new Henry"). I hear he is good but have never seen him play. Seems a hell of a risk for one so young. But then Wenger seems to be building for the future what with the recent signings of Diaby and Adebeyor. We could have a great team in a few years time or it could go horribly wrong....

22:52 / 19.01.06

..and looks like the poor mersey side cousins will have not one but two aussie strikers soon. moyesy is keen to slot timmy cahill up front given his recent heroics in the premiership and fa cup (ag'in his old mates) and now 'borough seem likely to lose the duke, mark viduka - also in scoring touch - to the toffees, if the media can be believed.

who is this walcott lad? price seems steep for a kid... must be good!

06:50 / 20.01.06

He could be the new Henry, he could be the new pennant....

Wenger is basically replacing the team, bit by bit, and getting a squad ready for three or four years time, new stadium etc. It's a smart move, no one will be up to competing with Chelsea for a few years anyway, so rebuild - man u would do well to realise this, but they seem in too much of a rush...

21:07 / 20.01.06

£5m for Walcott, I read. Surprisingly low, given what was quoted, but it may be one of them with activations later; plays 100 games, is capped, etc. He's the new Henry, anyway, apparently - very impressive in the context of what Champ highlights I've seen of him.

Anyway, wasn't the Cup brilliant the other week, north and south of the border? Leicester, Reading, Liverpool, Airdrie, I think I'm forgetting someone, and most importantly, Aberdeen at the game I was at all came back from two-goal deficits for thrillin-ass victories. Best cup weekend in years.

ONLY NICE THINGS

23:58 / 20.01.06

£5m for Walcott, I read. Surprisingly low, given what was quoted, but it may be one of them with activations later; plays 100 games, is capped, etc.

Yeah - the maximum is guessed at £12m, which presumably includes a 100-game payment, and I would imagine also a capped-for-England payment and a roasting consideration. In real terms, I doubt Soton will see much more than the £5m for at least a year, which might make replacing him even harder. It's a bit of a gamble for Wenger, but presumably he is expecting swollen revenues and an end to the pay freeze at Ashburton. Mind you, I'm more immediately interested in this new Viera fellow...

15:54 / 21.01.06

'Zat Diaby? I really hope Arsenal win the Champions League his year, after being (one of) the best team(s) in it, but bottling, for the last five or so.

16:37 / 21.01.06

Best football headline of evar.

17:41 / 21.01.06

Well it made me laugh. It probably shouldn't have, but it did.
On a more serious note, I'm intrigued by Wenger's signing policy at the moment. I know he's never been one for big money signings, but nearly all of his recent signings seem to have been made with one eye on the future. They're all very young, with lots of potential; if it works it could be very exciting, but I reckon he maybe taking a bit of a gamble.

20:58 / 21.01.06

Yeah, thing with Wenger is he seems particularly able to bring out the most of potential greats like Walcott (See: Weah, Henry, Vieira, Ashley Cole.) While I don't have any great allegiance south of the border (Everton a bit, but mostly anyone with a good Scottish connection,) of the teams after him I wanted the Arse to get him most for the above reason, really. And I do like them best of the top teams.

lonely as a cloud...

14:07 / 26.01.06

"Yeah, thing with Wenger is he seems particularly able to bring out the most of potential greats like Walcott (See: Weah, Henry, Vieira, Ashley Cole.)"

Thing is, though, they have had an awful lot of young British talent under Wenger, but only Cole, so far, has been able to make the step up to the first team. Upson, for example, would easily make a first team squad for the Arse nowadays, and Pennant's finally getting his act together at Brum; granted, he blew his chance at Arsenal, but if he hadn't, well, they might have the £17 odd million they paid for Reyes to spend elsewhere. Whether this is because of the attitude of young british footballers, or because Wenger connects better with french kids, I dunno.

Anyway. On another topic, what do people think of the Staunton/Uncle Sir Bobby Robson Irish management team? Me, I'm going to wait and see what sort of a team they'll pick, but it looks like a step backwards, at least in terms of addressing the issues that made Keano walk out in Saipan. Staunton worries me; there are other ex-Irish internationals with more managerial experience (Aldridge, Whelan). I can't help feeling the FAI have gone for the cheapest option they could.

07:58 / 27.01.06

Not sure if this is the best place to ask, but as someone who doesn't know a great deal about football, can anyone tell me what is so good about Sven? What success has England had under him and why didn't they can him years ago? Seems to me that with a team full of talented players, England haven't achieved much under Sven's rule, and the man even outshines Prince Phillip in the fine art of making public gaffes.

lonely as a cloud...

08:16 / 27.01.06

It seems to me that around the quarter finals of a major tournament is the best Sven has done, and is probably the best England can expect under his system. Sven has his own idea of who the best 11 are, and squeezes them all into his team, regardless of form. It's a shame, really; England should have the players to do better.

I don't think Sven's really achieved that much; I think maybe a UEFA cup, Serie A and Coppa Italia with Lazio, but that's about it, and he spent a lot of money to get there, AFAIR. The reason he hasn't been dumped is that the FA would have to pay millions in compensation if they chucked him. When he was caught talking to Abramovich and Kenyon, the FA panicked and upped his contract - which was a stupid move.

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:00 / 27.01.06

Well.. things to remember:

1) The England team is not actually as good as people say.
2) Sven Goran Eriksson is not as bad as people say.

Lazio was obviously his high watermark, but he also won multiple championships in the admittedly less competitive environs of Sweden and Portugal. England's quarter-final losses were to the eventual World Cup winners and the European Cup finalists, and under his tutelage England beat Argentina (twice) and absolutely tonked Germany (althoguh admittedly Harry Basset could have stuck Michael Owen up against a defence with the turning circle of an oil tanker steered by John Wark and felt reasonably sanguine). England under Eriksson actually has, I think, the best record of an England manager for quite a while.

However, he did have some terrible failings as an international manager. One of those was not being able to keep his mouth or his flies closed. Another was a surfeit of loyalty to players in deeply mundane form and a willingness to cave to club managers by bringing on whole new teams at half time, providing no opportunity in friendlies to see how players slotted in to established groups. As a result, friendlies produced precious little useful information and the squad remained static. Also, he was hampered by a lack of strength in depth in key positions - not least goalkeepeing. Unfortunately, when England did lose they tended to lose embarrassing matches to notionally inferior opposition - Northern Ireland Nil, anyone? Macedonia? Which made it hard to take the victories entirely seriously.

09:10 / 27.01.06

Yeah, his qualifying/competitive record is actually really good, but I'd ascribe that in part to the best crop of players England have ever had, certainly in my life, and some say in 40 years. There's at least 2 or 3 genuine contenders for a world xi in the present team (to my mind: 'Lamps', Rooney, Gerrard and Ashley Cole,) where before you might've had one or two (Lineker, Gascoigne.)

(I don't think England lost to Macedonia, but they did draw twice?) For me, Eriksson's greatest flaw was a tendency toward the negative; to try and hold leads against very good teams, for an hour or more - see the defeats to Portugal and Brazil, the latter of which hilariously involved Phil Neville ('if the Nevilles can play for England, so can I', they sing, and certainly in this one's case, they're not wrong) going on as a sub to bolster midfield.

lonely as a cloud...

09:13 / 27.01.06

Bear in mind that the second victory against Argentina was kind of last-gasp, after Argentina took their foot off the pedal.

Also, I don't think Sven's been troubled by that much lack of squad depth. Granted, they don't have too many options in goal, and they have a lack of internationally experienced full-backs - but that can be put down to Sven's awful friendly habits. For a friendly, IMHO, you want a team with an experienced spine - one at centre-half, one at central midfield, and maybe a winger and/or full back - but give new, younger players a decent amount of time on the pitch in the other positions. 45 minutes on the pitch surrounded by other inexperienced players isn't really going to do anyone any favours.

lonely as a cloud...

09:17 / 27.01.06

You're completely right there, Dunc. They did the same against France too, and Portugal. Mind you, Ireland had the exact same problems in the WC qualifiers - they should, or could, have beaten Switzerland and Israel, but Kerr decided to try and play it safe and hang on to one-goal leads.

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:47 / 27.01.06

Agreed - and, especially when you have no cover at left-back and Rio Ferdinand in defence, you realistically can't rely on hanging on to a lead. Same thing happened with France.

(I don't think England lost to Macedonia, but they did draw twice?)

Won 2-1 away without looking very good, and drew 2-2 at "home" (St. Marys), with Artim Sakiri basically killing David Seaman's career for England and Arsenal in a Chris Woods/Alexei Lalas moment and 60 minutes of incredulity at the utter absence of the England strikers, the best chance of a winner coming from Woodgate (remember him) and Smith getting sent off in the last minute. Ghastly, ghastly match.

11:51 / 27.01.06

So what do we think of the Euro 2008 qualifying draw?

England have a relatively easy group, a nice start for the new boss, but Scotland have no chance, surely?

Group B
France
Italy
Ukraine
SCOTLAND
Lithuania
Georgia
Faroe Islands

and Englands' group;

Group E
ENGLAND
Croatia
Russia
Israel
Estonia
Macedonia
Andorra

lonely as a cloud...

12:43 / 27.01.06

It looks like an easy group alright, Benny, but that's not necessarily a good thing for the next manager. Sven's already said England should qualify easily, so there'll be a huge amount of expectation for whoever follows him...

So, Ireland's group is:

Czech Republic
Germany
Slovakia
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Wales
Cyprus
San Marino

Not bad - I daresay Nedved, Poborsky, maybe Smicer and Koller might call it a day after the world cup for the Czechs, although most of the German team will probably be coming into their prime by that stage.

12:55 / 27.01.06

Re: Euro 2008 (unless France suddenly revert to early 90's type): oh, bollocks.

lonely as a cloud...

13:57 / 27.01.06

Again, by the time the qualifiers start France will probably be without Zidane, Makelele, Thuram, maybe Vieira. Most of the best midfielders playing in France at the moment are African immigrants, and more and more of them are declaring for the countries of their birth nowadays (Essien, Toure, Kalou).

Granted, they'll still have quality players like Giuly, Gallas and Henry, but they'll be relying more on perhaps a moment of magic rather than 90 minutes of high-quality football to win matches - like when they beat Ireland at Landsdowne Road in the WC qualifiers, they were nothing too special apart from Henry's wonderful goal.

14:32 / 27.01.06

Yeah, I thiiink we can beat all of the top three seeds at Hampden; we certainly had Italy on the rack for 45 glorious minutes last Summer, but I don't think we will. It's a shitty, difficult draw, but I think Scotland play best when facing lowest expectation a lot of the time, so we'll see. Some great games coming up, at any rate.

04:06 / 01.02.06

as well as the euro draw, the champions league cup draw has been done and dusted and one of chelsea or barcelona has to depart at this first knock out stage... what options does eufa have to seed teams at this stage - like in the groups - to avoid seemingly the two best sides in europe today meeting now in this competition?

good news for 'pool fans, i suspect!

but options: maybe award points for teams according to their [weighted] league position both last season and currently, as well as maybe a champions league weighting as well, get the teams who are the true champions a better chance of meeting in the business end, mebbe? is this a good thing? necessary?

how would it affect say 'pool's chances last year if they'd been seeded (or not!) and this time round, they didn't even make it through the season's performance [though i concur that the reigning champs should score a berth in the next year's comp...]

many seasons hitting the home straight now with lots of clubs assessig options. palace have a strong show of maintaining their place in the play-offs - i can't see the top two in the championship being overhauled. leeds might fancy their chances of a trip back to the big time. that'd be a fairy story! (but they won't, 'cause my palace will stop them!!

)

anyway, who's worrying, who's laughing and who's shitting themselves..??? anyone still out there??

lonely as a cloud...

08:14 / 01.02.06

I don't agree, astrojax - if you pull your weight in the CL group stage, then you get what you deserve. If the "top" teams performed like they should, then they should all finish first in their groups, which would negate any need for the sort of seedings you describe. But all teams have their off days, and that's part of football, and that what gives us mouthwatering ties like Chelsea v Barcelona and Arsenal v Madrid in the second round.

11:29 / 01.02.06

Yeah, what cloud said. Seeding only makes things more predictable - and anyway how would you gauge? Liverpool are European champions, and therefore should have got the likes of Benfica, Rangers or Villareal (the weakest teams left, imo).

ONLY NICE THINGS

06:52 / 02.02.06

Also, as long as, say, Chelsea and Barcelona are meeting in a knockout round, I don't massively hold with the idea that it will be a better game if it's the final.

Meanwhile, every leading club in the Premiership seems to have self-destructed simultaneously. Chelsea drawing away to Aston Villa is a bit of a surprise, albeit not a terribly relevant one, but the faiilure of any of the clubs below them to capitalise was near-heroic. Liverpool throwing away the lead at Birmingham, Arsenal having to take Sol Campbell off halfway through the defeat to West Ham despite not having a fit central defender to replace him, and Manchester United having the experiment of playing Ferdinand as the new Roy Keane validated by a sending off (full disclosure: I think he's a ballbag) - it seems that there is a gentlemen's agreement not to put too much pressure on Mourinho. Of the current squads, it seems like Liverpool's is the only one without a severe hole in its squad, and that is balanced out by a lot of mediocrity outside the midfield berths...

Speaking of self-destructing, was anyone genuinely surprised by Man City beating Newcastle 3-0? With an inspirational performance by Rio Ferdinand Memorial Award for being a Bollock-holder Joey Barton? There must be a point where Souness is put out of his misery, but who could replace him, and why?

Elsewhere, in my own fevered inner life, Tranmere Rovers recorded their fourth straight nil-nil. If it weren't for the very real threat of relegation, Brian Little could be steering us into a new golden age of excitement-neutral football.

lonely as a cloud...

09:42 / 02.02.06

Arsenal have been really really awful lately. Ineffective is the best word for it, they really miss having someone with the confidence to make passes and the strength to win the ball in the middle of the field. Watching the match against Bolton at the weekend, I was struck by how often the midfield were passing sideways or backwards; any time they got to attack seemed to be down to a misplaced or intercepted pass from Bolton rather than a tackle by Arsenal.

nedrichards is confused

13:29 / 02.02.06

I have been both 'pleased' and 'delighted' with Liverpool's recent run of form, silly last minute goals or no. As for depth in the squad, well, anyone's going to make the thing stronger when he replaces Josemi.

Watford report: still have the youngest manager in England. Still playing lovely football. Still signing people called Marlon. Still above Luton. Still in the playoff bearths. Win!

ONLY NICE THINGS

13:41 / 02.02.06

Point - as I say, Liverpool no longer have a position where you can point and say "there is nobody good in that position", which is novel. You can say that the full-backs are a bit anonymous, or the right wing needs strengthening, or that the strikers need more goals (and you can see the Fowler argument - he's coming back into form and he's cheap), but on average Liverpool will still turn over most teams because they will not screw up, which is novel after the Evans and Houllier years.

Watford just rocktoberfest. Did I see them beating Leeds 3-0 recently?

20:19 / 02.02.06

There must be a point where Souness is put out of his misery, but who could replace him, and why?

well haus, i'd have a shot! i bet he gets paid a squillion more than i do and i'd prob'ly only last a few months [weeks? minutes? ...

] but i'd get a go at being a manager of a [crap. sorry] premiership side for a while and get paid a wallop for the fun. might even get to beat man u! what a hoot...

seriously, why anyone in their right mind would put their hand up for a job like that if they didn't eat breathe sleep and inviscerate only football is beyond me. mad, i tell you. mad.

question: will reading be next year's premiership wigan? can there be two teams in sucessive years like this? has that ever happened before..?

lonely as a cloud...

07:29 / 03.02.06

Replacing Souness...well, it's a poisoned chalice if ever there was one. There's the bones of an excellent squad there - apart from the defense, Given is an excellent keeper, in midfield they have Parker, Emre, Luque, Dyer, Bowyer (shit person, but decent player), they have N'Zogbia and Amoebi, who have lots of potential, and Owen, who'll score goals wherever he goes. Plus Shearer's leaving at the end of the season and is more interested in pursuing a career as a pundit than going into management - which will provide a break with the past, so the new manager won't have to worry about stepping on the Geordie God's toes.

Whoever they bring in needs to prioritise the defence. Carr and Babayaro aren't the kind of full-backs you want when your dentre-halves are less than solid. They're excellent attacking full-backs, but in terms of defending, all they have going for them is their pace. The less said about Bramble and Boumsong, the better...although I think Bramble could be good if he had a more solid partner; put Terry, Carragher or King beside him, and he could work out alright.

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