Lancashire is arguably the quintessential homeland of football. The region west of the Pennines has the most Premier League clubs of any in the country and a rich history in the beautiful game, after all the Football Museum is in Preston. The Deepdale faithful currently find themselves rock bottom of the Championship and after exactly one year at the helm Darren Ferguson was sacked earlier this week. It is not always like father like son as Sir Alex’s offspring has never really cut it as a manager in the second tier. This is not to belittle his achievements further down the Football League, Ferguson junior having guided previous employers Peterborough United to back to back promotions from League Two to the Championship.
It has been in both jobs the level at which he has come unstuck. Last November Barry Fry and the Posh board gave him the sack with the club in the same position North End find themselves inhabiting thirteen months on. What has done for Ferguson is loyalty to players that may have got the job done in lower leagues but have never been able to replicate that form in the second tier. Admittedly there has been an increase in austerity with the finances at Deepdale over the last few years and when you look at the current side it couldn’t be more different from the so-nearly promoted squad of Billy Davies’s that lost twice in the play-offs.
Why did Ferguson bring in two of his players from Peterborough who hadn’t made the step up the previous season? Welsh international Craig Morgan has been awful in defence (Gary Speed take note) and I’m still not sure what dimension Paul Coutts adds to the XI, the Scotsman having been equally useless out wide and in the middle of the park.
The story is not quite one of abject failure though. Stoke pair Michael Tonge and Danny Pugh who signed on loan are both decent players at Championship level with promotions to the Premier League on their CV so they know how to win matches. There is one triumph of Ferguson’s that must be highlighted from his tenure at Preston though. In an otherwise dismal calendar year one of his signings, Irish winger Keith Treacy, has shined. The former Blackburn man has always looked dangerous and his form was rewarded with an international debut in the Republic of Ireland’s first match at the newly revamped Aviva Stadium at the end of August.
Sadly the rest of the team, with the exception of North End’s long serving goalkeeper Andy Lonergan, have been a disappointment. The strike force lacks potency when the opposition defence marks Jon Parkin out of the game and at the back they’ve been shambolic, possessing the joint worst back four in the division. To have any chance of survival the board must appoint a successor quickly so that some business can be done in the January transfer window and whoever that might be they must motivate the players for the relegation scrap that Deepdale finds itself in.
Burnley were replaced by another northwest outfit in Blackpool in England’s top flight over the summer. This rags to riches success story is one that captivated fans of the underdog everywhere, but never before and probably never again will a club enter the Premier League with only three stands on their ground. When Owen Coyle was signed by Bolton last winter he was an impossible act to follow, evidenced by the current high flying position Wanderers currently sit in and by the fact that his Turf Moor successor Brian Laws was finally sacked this week. In the wake of the man who got the clarets promoted to the big time’s departure the club showed the least ambition by appointing someone with zero Premier League experience to his name and had little to no success even in the division below.
When the Burnley bubble burst his appointment was an admission of defeat and a display on the part of the chairman of a lack of courage again proven by Laws’s eventual dismissal. So many excuses have been made for a very likeable football figure. He had a tight budget to work with at Sheffield Wednesday, but some of the blame for their relegation to League One last season must be put at his door along with taking the clarets down. What you can say for Laws is that he did a fantastic job at Scunthorpe United, taking them from a mid-table League Two club to establishing them as one that yo-yos between League One and the Championship.
He made no signings to improve the defence. Danny Fox who joined from Celtic last January is much like a Scottish, left-sided version of Glen Johnson, fantastic at attacking from full back, but ineffective at defensive duties. Leon Cort who joined from Stoke at the same time has been shipped out on loan ironically enough to Preston after failing to make his mark with a number of not too clever displays from Britain’s brainiest footballer. The midfield has been bolstered by the arrivals of Dean Marney from Hull, Ross Wallace from North End and the versatile Jack Cork on loan from Chelsea during the summer.
These were joined by target man Chris Iwelumo who flopped in the Premier League with Wolves, but has experience at Burnley’s current level and is their leading scorer so far. Despite adding to the ranks with players who have the knowledge of how to be a success in the Championship and highly rated youngsters, the clarets under Laws became inconsistent and that is not an ingredient which will make for a return to the top flight at the first time of asking, which is surely the club’s target.
In order to get their promotion push back on track the Turf Moor board need to appoint someone who will use the current squad’s strengths to maximum effect. Service needs to be created for Iwelumo, whose goals have dried up after a scintillating purple patch early on in the season because he is not the most mobile striker. A defensive signing in the January sales could be a welcome addition that may turn some of those draws into wins.
A Happy New Year and a prosperous 2011 to all JC Football readers!
Friday, 31 December 2010
Thursday, 23 December 2010
Rafa Fails to Lift the Shadow of the Special One
Two days to go until Christmas and Rafael Benitez is out of a job. Little more than six months down the line from the Special One winning an historic treble, not even adding the World Club Championship to Inter Milan’s trophy cabinet could save the Spaniard from the sack. The spectre of Jose Mourinho still looms large over the San Siro, who traded the Nerazzurri for Real Madrid in the summer, enticed by the prospect of spearheading a new generation of Galacticos. Whoever stepped into the Portuguese’s shoes could not better the unprecedented feat the Special One achieved in Italian football last season.
This is by no means the first time that a football club has struggled in the wake of one of the most charismatic enigmas in the game’s departure. In fact you can make a persuasive case that Mourinho is an act that simply cannot be followed. His record as a manager speaks for itself. The statistics show just under a 55% win rate during his brief spell in charge of Benfica and the subsequent year at the helm of U. D. Leiria respectively, guiding the latter to their highest league finish in the club’s history. At both Porto and Chelsea the Special One won more than 70% of matches and at the San Siro a shade less than 63%. At the Bernabeu the Portuguese has lost just once in twenty five games, the heavy defeat by Barcelona at the Nou Camp which has handed Madrid’s bitter rivals the advantage in the race for the La Liga crown.
With numbers like this and Mourinho’s famous unbeaten home league record which now stretches back two months shy of nine years, you can see how trophies naturally follow. At Porto he won a league, Taca de Portugal and UEFA Cup treble in 2003 and followed it up with the domestic Liga and Champions League double in 2004. At Stamford Bridge the Special One brought back to back Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006 adding the league cup in the former, and despite missing out on a third consecutive top flight championship in 2007 the club won the English domestic cup double under his guidance. Before last season’s Italian league, cup and European treble, he also kept the Serie A title at the San Siro in 2009 after predecessor Roberto Mancini steered the Nerazzurri to the previous three crowns.
He was able in his last job to get the best out of an ageing squad and certainly out of Argentine powerhouse Diego Milito, who netted thirty goals in the treble winning campaign. This season it seems his strike partner and Africa’s player of the year for 2010 Samuel Eto’o will be the one to reach that margin. The Cameroonian record goalscorer has already bagged nineteen in all competitions, while Milito has a mere four. There’s no doubt that contributing sixteen last season was a substantial factor in Inter’s success, but now subsequently where the African has thrived under Benitez, the stocky Argentine has struggled.
The Spaniard did next to nothing business-wise in the summer after taking over. He sold on loan Nicolas Burdisso to Roma and thus lost the only experienced centre back on the club’s books with any pace. Shipping Victor Obinna out to the Premier League was a shrewd move though; getting him off the wage bill with West Ham picking up the tab for a player who has never come remotely close to fulfilling his potential should be commended if nothing else. Aside from this Benitez merely presided over rubbing stamping the permanent arrivals of some youngsters that had been brought to the San Siro under the co-ownership rules of Serie A during last season. Kenyan central midfielder McDonald Mariga and French winger Jonathan Biabiany might well be two to watch out for in the future, but the pair are not exactly mainstays in Inter’s line up and have failed to seize opportunities when they have been presented.
A. C. Milan have a thirteen point lead over their San Siro cohabitants going into the winter break. The Nerazzurri have won only three times in eleven Serie A matches since the 4-0 romp against lowly Bari in late September and it was that poor run of form that has cost Benitez his job. In the two months between the above fixture and the 5-2 win against Parma, Inter did not win at home, succumbing to three draws and a defeat at the hands of their live-in neighbours in the Milan derby. His failure to emulate his fellow Iberian’s success in Italy will further hit the Spaniard’s stock, which has arguably been in a steady decline since Liverpool lost in the 2007 Champions League Final. Reds fans will be quick no doubt to point out he guided them to the runners up spot in the Premier League in 2009, but they lost out to hated rivals Manchester United, succumbing to too many draws.
Who can say what Benitez will do next; with fifteen years in club management he could well try his hand at taking charge of a national side. Alternatively he might do what many foreign coaches do after being sacked in a top European job and return home. Perhaps he will play the waiting game and make a sensational return to the Premier League as he still has a house in the northwest. As far as Inter goes, former A. C. Milan coach Leonardo is the early favourite to succeed the Spaniard. Current Zenit St. Petersburg and former Roma manger Luciano Spalletti, ex-Nerazzurri player Walter Zegna and Marcelo Biesla who resigned from the Chile national team last month are all within odds of 10/1 with SkyBet. Some sections of England fans will welcome Fabio Capello’s name being linked with the post. Inter president Massimo Moratti will probably go for someone with Serie A experience to try and get the club’s season back on track.
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all JC Football readers
This is by no means the first time that a football club has struggled in the wake of one of the most charismatic enigmas in the game’s departure. In fact you can make a persuasive case that Mourinho is an act that simply cannot be followed. His record as a manager speaks for itself. The statistics show just under a 55% win rate during his brief spell in charge of Benfica and the subsequent year at the helm of U. D. Leiria respectively, guiding the latter to their highest league finish in the club’s history. At both Porto and Chelsea the Special One won more than 70% of matches and at the San Siro a shade less than 63%. At the Bernabeu the Portuguese has lost just once in twenty five games, the heavy defeat by Barcelona at the Nou Camp which has handed Madrid’s bitter rivals the advantage in the race for the La Liga crown.
With numbers like this and Mourinho’s famous unbeaten home league record which now stretches back two months shy of nine years, you can see how trophies naturally follow. At Porto he won a league, Taca de Portugal and UEFA Cup treble in 2003 and followed it up with the domestic Liga and Champions League double in 2004. At Stamford Bridge the Special One brought back to back Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006 adding the league cup in the former, and despite missing out on a third consecutive top flight championship in 2007 the club won the English domestic cup double under his guidance. Before last season’s Italian league, cup and European treble, he also kept the Serie A title at the San Siro in 2009 after predecessor Roberto Mancini steered the Nerazzurri to the previous three crowns.
He was able in his last job to get the best out of an ageing squad and certainly out of Argentine powerhouse Diego Milito, who netted thirty goals in the treble winning campaign. This season it seems his strike partner and Africa’s player of the year for 2010 Samuel Eto’o will be the one to reach that margin. The Cameroonian record goalscorer has already bagged nineteen in all competitions, while Milito has a mere four. There’s no doubt that contributing sixteen last season was a substantial factor in Inter’s success, but now subsequently where the African has thrived under Benitez, the stocky Argentine has struggled.
The Spaniard did next to nothing business-wise in the summer after taking over. He sold on loan Nicolas Burdisso to Roma and thus lost the only experienced centre back on the club’s books with any pace. Shipping Victor Obinna out to the Premier League was a shrewd move though; getting him off the wage bill with West Ham picking up the tab for a player who has never come remotely close to fulfilling his potential should be commended if nothing else. Aside from this Benitez merely presided over rubbing stamping the permanent arrivals of some youngsters that had been brought to the San Siro under the co-ownership rules of Serie A during last season. Kenyan central midfielder McDonald Mariga and French winger Jonathan Biabiany might well be two to watch out for in the future, but the pair are not exactly mainstays in Inter’s line up and have failed to seize opportunities when they have been presented.
A. C. Milan have a thirteen point lead over their San Siro cohabitants going into the winter break. The Nerazzurri have won only three times in eleven Serie A matches since the 4-0 romp against lowly Bari in late September and it was that poor run of form that has cost Benitez his job. In the two months between the above fixture and the 5-2 win against Parma, Inter did not win at home, succumbing to three draws and a defeat at the hands of their live-in neighbours in the Milan derby. His failure to emulate his fellow Iberian’s success in Italy will further hit the Spaniard’s stock, which has arguably been in a steady decline since Liverpool lost in the 2007 Champions League Final. Reds fans will be quick no doubt to point out he guided them to the runners up spot in the Premier League in 2009, but they lost out to hated rivals Manchester United, succumbing to too many draws.
Who can say what Benitez will do next; with fifteen years in club management he could well try his hand at taking charge of a national side. Alternatively he might do what many foreign coaches do after being sacked in a top European job and return home. Perhaps he will play the waiting game and make a sensational return to the Premier League as he still has a house in the northwest. As far as Inter goes, former A. C. Milan coach Leonardo is the early favourite to succeed the Spaniard. Current Zenit St. Petersburg and former Roma manger Luciano Spalletti, ex-Nerazzurri player Walter Zegna and Marcelo Biesla who resigned from the Chile national team last month are all within odds of 10/1 with SkyBet. Some sections of England fans will welcome Fabio Capello’s name being linked with the post. Inter president Massimo Moratti will probably go for someone with Serie A experience to try and get the club’s season back on track.
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all JC Football readers
Monday, 13 December 2010
Red Devils and Gunners Disappoint Again
Manchester United 1 Arsenal 0
What is it with Arsenal and failing to perform against their fellow Premier League heavyweights? A 75000 plus crowd watching, including guests of honour the Chilean miners, at Old Trafford and yet again two of English football’s giants failed to live up to the hype. It’s always the same old story and to be honest I’m growing tired of telling it. When these sides match one another in formation the middle of the park is more congested than the M8 has been at rush hour in Scotland’s worst snowdrifts for forty years. The Red Devils snatch a goal late in one half that gets put down to a mistake or improvisation (read luck) and Wenger’s men pass incessantly, creating nothing but frustration for the supporters as United repel their build ups and take home the points.
Who doesn’t love Arsenal’s football philosophy? When it works you never get tired of seeing it, but when it doesn’t there’s no plan B, no alternative tactics and when they’re chasing the game in the last five minutes looking for an equaliser there’s still no urgency. If it drives me, a humble commentator, nuts, think what it does to the Gunners faithful! Sometimes you can’t help but think their big names are afraid of putting in performances against top opposition. Arshavin was ineffective again and why Wenger left replacing him with Walcott so late I’ll never know. Nasri has been the outstanding player of the Londoners’ season so far, but where are his contributions in the big matches? Without service from the wide areas and the centre of midfield a maze of tackles and inaccurate passing Chamakh had little more than scraps to feed on.
It’s not entirely recriminations for Wenger though. What a bold move on his part it was to hand highly rated young keeper Szczesny a league debut in the trip to Old Trafford, but he acquitted himself well. There was nothing the Polish stopper could have done about the goal which Park Ji-Sung could never have meant. That responsibility must go to the failure of Arsenal to track his run and the static nature of Koscielny and Squillaci. Szczesny saved superbly from an audacious chip from Rooney and although there is room for improvement with his kicking, he commanded the box well and held onto most shots that the Red Devils fired at him.
Nani has come on so much since he signed for United. He now looks a threat from either flank because the full back doesn’t know whether he’ll go to the byline or cut inside. The latter is more often than not the option he takes, evidenced by his coming in from the right and producing the deflected cross for the game’s only goal. The Portuguese winger’s ability was never in doubt, but the question mark remained about end product. He seems to have largely answered that now.
Apart from missing a penalty, Rooney played well. He seems to be so much more disciplined about his play at club level. There was only a fraction of the dropping deep to get the ball in tonight’s encounter compared with an international game. After Park's late first half strike the Red Devils sat on their lead and showed their usual mediocre ambitions of attempting to increase their lead only on the counter. Hardly the most proactive approach a home team can take, but they absorbed pressure from the Gunners, ensuring all the opposition's possession was in front of the back four with incisiveness seldom seen. In Fletcher, Carrick and Anderson there is a solid central threesome, but no player who really knows how to support the attack with any real purpose.
Nonetheless Ferguson’s men have now gone top of the Premier League with this win and remain unbeaten. This match was a test of Arsenal’s title credentials and again they have been found wanting. It is disappointing they just didn’t produce a better display because there’s precious little that’s constructive for Wenger and Gunners fans to take from it.
What is it with Arsenal and failing to perform against their fellow Premier League heavyweights? A 75000 plus crowd watching, including guests of honour the Chilean miners, at Old Trafford and yet again two of English football’s giants failed to live up to the hype. It’s always the same old story and to be honest I’m growing tired of telling it. When these sides match one another in formation the middle of the park is more congested than the M8 has been at rush hour in Scotland’s worst snowdrifts for forty years. The Red Devils snatch a goal late in one half that gets put down to a mistake or improvisation (read luck) and Wenger’s men pass incessantly, creating nothing but frustration for the supporters as United repel their build ups and take home the points.
Who doesn’t love Arsenal’s football philosophy? When it works you never get tired of seeing it, but when it doesn’t there’s no plan B, no alternative tactics and when they’re chasing the game in the last five minutes looking for an equaliser there’s still no urgency. If it drives me, a humble commentator, nuts, think what it does to the Gunners faithful! Sometimes you can’t help but think their big names are afraid of putting in performances against top opposition. Arshavin was ineffective again and why Wenger left replacing him with Walcott so late I’ll never know. Nasri has been the outstanding player of the Londoners’ season so far, but where are his contributions in the big matches? Without service from the wide areas and the centre of midfield a maze of tackles and inaccurate passing Chamakh had little more than scraps to feed on.
It’s not entirely recriminations for Wenger though. What a bold move on his part it was to hand highly rated young keeper Szczesny a league debut in the trip to Old Trafford, but he acquitted himself well. There was nothing the Polish stopper could have done about the goal which Park Ji-Sung could never have meant. That responsibility must go to the failure of Arsenal to track his run and the static nature of Koscielny and Squillaci. Szczesny saved superbly from an audacious chip from Rooney and although there is room for improvement with his kicking, he commanded the box well and held onto most shots that the Red Devils fired at him.
Nani has come on so much since he signed for United. He now looks a threat from either flank because the full back doesn’t know whether he’ll go to the byline or cut inside. The latter is more often than not the option he takes, evidenced by his coming in from the right and producing the deflected cross for the game’s only goal. The Portuguese winger’s ability was never in doubt, but the question mark remained about end product. He seems to have largely answered that now.
Apart from missing a penalty, Rooney played well. He seems to be so much more disciplined about his play at club level. There was only a fraction of the dropping deep to get the ball in tonight’s encounter compared with an international game. After Park's late first half strike the Red Devils sat on their lead and showed their usual mediocre ambitions of attempting to increase their lead only on the counter. Hardly the most proactive approach a home team can take, but they absorbed pressure from the Gunners, ensuring all the opposition's possession was in front of the back four with incisiveness seldom seen. In Fletcher, Carrick and Anderson there is a solid central threesome, but no player who really knows how to support the attack with any real purpose.
Nonetheless Ferguson’s men have now gone top of the Premier League with this win and remain unbeaten. This match was a test of Arsenal’s title credentials and again they have been found wanting. It is disappointing they just didn’t produce a better display because there’s precious little that’s constructive for Wenger and Gunners fans to take from it.
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Big Sam Beaten on Reebok Return
Bolton Wanderers 2 Blackburn Rovers 1
There is heavy irony in that the Trotters’ two goals had something Allardyce-esque about them, with their former manager suffering his first defeat at his old club since leaving in 2007 this afternoon. Successive managers, Lee and Megson, tried and failed to move out of the considerable shadow Big Sam left over the Reebok, departing Bolton after seven and a half years at the helm. His brand of football brought the club into Europe from a sixth placed finish and since then Wanderers have never looked like they could reach those heights again which many consider to be above their station, until now.
Owen Coyle, courted by Celtic in the wake of Gordon Strachan’s departure in the summer of 2009, stuck with his promoted Burnley to lead their top flight venture last season. By the halfway stage he had the shrewdness to see that the rest of the Premier League had finally taken notice of the surprise package that Turf Moor gave visiting teams. With the clarets no longer so defensively strong at home, a trend that has continued up to now with yesterday’s squandering of a two goal advantage to lose to Leeds 3-2, he opted to return to a club from his playing days.
Fans with long memories might recall that Little Sam Sammy Lee tried to play attractive football in the wake of Allardyce’s departure and got sacked with hardly a fair crack of the whip during the 2007-08 season. Here we must draw a crucial distinction. Coyle introduced his similar philosophies during the second half of a campaign and it kept them up, whilst Lee’s Bolton only played their way into the relegation places. Wanderers under Coyle now sit fifth and are guaranteed to remain in the top six no matter what the result of the other two heavyweight clashes in this round of matches.
Turning to today’s Lancashire Derby, from the outset the tactics of the visitors were vintage Big Sam. A 5-4-1 formation designed to frustrate the passing of the home side, with three centre halves aiming to neutralise the aerial presence of Trotters talisman Kevin Davies. You can say what you like about these ploys, but in the end the former worked and the latter did not. Rovers stopped Bolton playing football, but as is so often the case three at the back didn’t work as evidenced by Davies’s assist for Holden’s eighty-eighth minute winner.
Blackburn stopped Wanderers from their passing game, but Allardyce was undone by his own tactic of long ball used against him. Today’s result is a victory for the ability to mix footballing styles up and not rigidly adhere to a set way of approaching the game when it clearly isn’t working. That said Coyle’s men nearly did carve Rovers open on occasion, but their two goals came from hoofing it up the field, whilst Blackburn’s equaliser, before they switched off from the restart, arose strangely enough from a nice interchanging of passes.
It is a credit to the character and workrate of the Trotters that allowed them to dig deep and get three points after losing a player. Mark Davies’s elbow on Phil Jones before the hour mark could arguably have been a straight red rather than a second yellow. Blackburn couldn’t make their subsequent domination of the possession count. From right back Sam Ricketts tossed forwards a number of long balls and free kicks into Kevin Davies and between them Samba, Nelsen and Givet either failed to deal with them or surrendered the second ball.
The latter outcome was the case for substitute Fabrice Muamba’s sixty-fifth minute opener. The ex-Arsenal youngster showed sublime footwork to make an opening and placed it confidently beyond Paul Robinson. From then on Wanderers lived dangerously, but still managed to create chances of their own. Martin Petrov particularly impressed, despite his increasing years. Nonetheless Rovers produced something with less than five minutes of the ninety left. Substitute Hoilett played in Jason Roberts (we all thought he was surplus to requirements at Ewood Park) to set up Mame Biram Diouf who, with the aid of a deflection, put the ball over Jussi Jaaskelainen to equalise.
What a cliché it is, but you are most vulnerable when your side has just scored. Blackburn dithered from the kick off and within ten seconds the ball was hoofed again upfield by Ricketts, Davies flicked it on and Holden volleyed home to stun the visitors. Allardyce’s men gave everything to try and level the score again, ironically ending the match with five in the frontline, but could not find a way through.
I’ve never been one to sing Gary Cahill’s praises but overall today he was pretty impressive. Of the centre halves on the England national team fringe it has always seemed to me that Ryan Shawcross of Stoke has been the one who has shined brightest. If Coyle is going to steer Bolton into a European place and emulate Big Sam then he has to keep hold of Cahill who has been consistently linked with a move away from the Reebok for quite some time.
As for Rovers they are crying out for a striker who will finish their chances and get into double figures. Kalinic was overhyped when he signed for them and still has time to become a force, but being dubbed ‘the next Davor Suker’ at such a young age is piling ridiculous precious on the young Croatian. Neither Roberts nor Benjani are long term options and Mame Diouf is only on loan at Ewood Park from Manchester United. Big Sam needs the new owners to cough up in January so he can bring in some more options.
There is heavy irony in that the Trotters’ two goals had something Allardyce-esque about them, with their former manager suffering his first defeat at his old club since leaving in 2007 this afternoon. Successive managers, Lee and Megson, tried and failed to move out of the considerable shadow Big Sam left over the Reebok, departing Bolton after seven and a half years at the helm. His brand of football brought the club into Europe from a sixth placed finish and since then Wanderers have never looked like they could reach those heights again which many consider to be above their station, until now.
Owen Coyle, courted by Celtic in the wake of Gordon Strachan’s departure in the summer of 2009, stuck with his promoted Burnley to lead their top flight venture last season. By the halfway stage he had the shrewdness to see that the rest of the Premier League had finally taken notice of the surprise package that Turf Moor gave visiting teams. With the clarets no longer so defensively strong at home, a trend that has continued up to now with yesterday’s squandering of a two goal advantage to lose to Leeds 3-2, he opted to return to a club from his playing days.
Fans with long memories might recall that Little Sam Sammy Lee tried to play attractive football in the wake of Allardyce’s departure and got sacked with hardly a fair crack of the whip during the 2007-08 season. Here we must draw a crucial distinction. Coyle introduced his similar philosophies during the second half of a campaign and it kept them up, whilst Lee’s Bolton only played their way into the relegation places. Wanderers under Coyle now sit fifth and are guaranteed to remain in the top six no matter what the result of the other two heavyweight clashes in this round of matches.
Turning to today’s Lancashire Derby, from the outset the tactics of the visitors were vintage Big Sam. A 5-4-1 formation designed to frustrate the passing of the home side, with three centre halves aiming to neutralise the aerial presence of Trotters talisman Kevin Davies. You can say what you like about these ploys, but in the end the former worked and the latter did not. Rovers stopped Bolton playing football, but as is so often the case three at the back didn’t work as evidenced by Davies’s assist for Holden’s eighty-eighth minute winner.
Blackburn stopped Wanderers from their passing game, but Allardyce was undone by his own tactic of long ball used against him. Today’s result is a victory for the ability to mix footballing styles up and not rigidly adhere to a set way of approaching the game when it clearly isn’t working. That said Coyle’s men nearly did carve Rovers open on occasion, but their two goals came from hoofing it up the field, whilst Blackburn’s equaliser, before they switched off from the restart, arose strangely enough from a nice interchanging of passes.
It is a credit to the character and workrate of the Trotters that allowed them to dig deep and get three points after losing a player. Mark Davies’s elbow on Phil Jones before the hour mark could arguably have been a straight red rather than a second yellow. Blackburn couldn’t make their subsequent domination of the possession count. From right back Sam Ricketts tossed forwards a number of long balls and free kicks into Kevin Davies and between them Samba, Nelsen and Givet either failed to deal with them or surrendered the second ball.
The latter outcome was the case for substitute Fabrice Muamba’s sixty-fifth minute opener. The ex-Arsenal youngster showed sublime footwork to make an opening and placed it confidently beyond Paul Robinson. From then on Wanderers lived dangerously, but still managed to create chances of their own. Martin Petrov particularly impressed, despite his increasing years. Nonetheless Rovers produced something with less than five minutes of the ninety left. Substitute Hoilett played in Jason Roberts (we all thought he was surplus to requirements at Ewood Park) to set up Mame Biram Diouf who, with the aid of a deflection, put the ball over Jussi Jaaskelainen to equalise.
What a cliché it is, but you are most vulnerable when your side has just scored. Blackburn dithered from the kick off and within ten seconds the ball was hoofed again upfield by Ricketts, Davies flicked it on and Holden volleyed home to stun the visitors. Allardyce’s men gave everything to try and level the score again, ironically ending the match with five in the frontline, but could not find a way through.
I’ve never been one to sing Gary Cahill’s praises but overall today he was pretty impressive. Of the centre halves on the England national team fringe it has always seemed to me that Ryan Shawcross of Stoke has been the one who has shined brightest. If Coyle is going to steer Bolton into a European place and emulate Big Sam then he has to keep hold of Cahill who has been consistently linked with a move away from the Reebok for quite some time.
As for Rovers they are crying out for a striker who will finish their chances and get into double figures. Kalinic was overhyped when he signed for them and still has time to become a force, but being dubbed ‘the next Davor Suker’ at such a young age is piling ridiculous precious on the young Croatian. Neither Roberts nor Benjani are long term options and Mame Diouf is only on loan at Ewood Park from Manchester United. Big Sam needs the new owners to cough up in January so he can bring in some more options.
Friday, 10 December 2010
Rangers’ Run Ended by Hungry Hornets
QPR 1 Watford 3
Neil Warnock’s side suffered their first league defeat of the season thanks to a brace from Danny Graham and a Jordan Mutch strike, with ex-Hornet Tommy Smith netting a late consolation at Loftus Road tonight. Malky Mackay, very much at the opposite end of the managerial spectrum to his QPR counterpart, has had to rely on youth around a spine of experience. This is in contrast to the Londoners who have the investment to attract big names, but where Adel Taarabt flopped in front of the cameras, the visitors seemed the team most up for the battle.
One thing that concerned me coming into this game was the similarity in tactics both managers tend to employ; there is always the worry two sides will cancel each other out. In Danny Graham Watford have a mobile frontman, which represents one of the schools of thought on how to play with a lone striker. Rangers have the other, a target man to hold the ball up and flick it on in the now ageing Heidar Helguson. There’s no question who came out on top. The Icelandic international needs support and service because he simply doesn’t have the legs to go looking for the ball and I’ve never rated him as a finisher with his feet.
Graham showed promise early on in his career but has chosen to work his way up through the leagues and to be frank Watford will do well to hold on to him long term. Unlike Helguson he is a goalscorer through and through. He would not look out of place in a top end Championship outfit, maybe even a lower end Premier League club. There can be no doubt he profited from some dubious officiating and atrocious QPR defending tonight but his double turned out to be the difference between the sides. Clint Hill is too old to play left back and I said so when he was at Palace. On the counter or building attacks down the right, the Hornets exploited his lack of pace and his natural tendency to have a centre back’s positioning despite his wide berth.
More worryingly Warnock has made a mistake putting the captain’s armband on a flair player like Taarabt. Just the same as Cristiano Ronaldo with the Portuguese national side it has proven to be inhibiting and has not had the desired effect of turning him into a better team player by placing responsibility on his shoulders. The Moroccan was trying to the run the show by himself. Promotions and success do not come from mavericks. I am struggling to remember a more selfish display by a player, let alone by one wearing the captain’s armband! With one up top end product has to be a demand, not posturing, showboating and delaying crosses and through balls. He was totally ineffective.
Another defensive problem seems to be Matthew Connolly. The Arsenal youth academy product started out his career as a right full back and his conversion to the middle seemed to be working out, but tonight he was exposed. He is still young and hopefully will have taken some pointers from the defeat which will stand him in good stead for improving his game. Out wide I thought Jamie Mackie and Tommy Smith could have given more.
With the experience of Martin Taylor and John Eustace forming a strong spine with highly-rated keeper Scott Loach, who did his stock no harm at all this evening, Mackay has surrounded them with some of their own and youngsters brought in from Scotland and the lower leagues. Lloyd Doyley and Adrian Mariappa are academy garudates, Stephen McGinn and Don Cowie came from north of the border, and Will Buckley joined the Vicarage Road outfit from Rochdale. We mustn’t forget Graham too plied his trade for Carlisle in the division below before signing for the Hornets last summer.
It is a testament to the burgeoning talent of the Scot that these players have stepped up or made the grade from youth and reserve teams. They appear to have a great togetherness and spirit, evidenced on tonight’s outstanding performance by all of the XI. The need for new owners is obvious, but there are more than a few sides that have to worry about avoiding the drop that concern more than Watford. The worry as identified above is losing Graham, with Troy Deeney given limited opportunities to prove himself at a higher level since signing from Walsall.
Rangers scarcely deserved their consolation, though they did look more threatening with Rob Hulse on the pitch. He really does have a lot more about him than Helguson. Leon Clarke was almost absent despite his introduction from the bench along with the former Derby and Leeds centre forward. It seemed a shame that Watford’s clean sheet was ruined and Tommy Smith did not celebrate his eighty-ninth minute goal against one of his former clubs. QPR need to bounce back, not lose sight of their objective and start playing like a team again.
Neil Warnock’s side suffered their first league defeat of the season thanks to a brace from Danny Graham and a Jordan Mutch strike, with ex-Hornet Tommy Smith netting a late consolation at Loftus Road tonight. Malky Mackay, very much at the opposite end of the managerial spectrum to his QPR counterpart, has had to rely on youth around a spine of experience. This is in contrast to the Londoners who have the investment to attract big names, but where Adel Taarabt flopped in front of the cameras, the visitors seemed the team most up for the battle.
One thing that concerned me coming into this game was the similarity in tactics both managers tend to employ; there is always the worry two sides will cancel each other out. In Danny Graham Watford have a mobile frontman, which represents one of the schools of thought on how to play with a lone striker. Rangers have the other, a target man to hold the ball up and flick it on in the now ageing Heidar Helguson. There’s no question who came out on top. The Icelandic international needs support and service because he simply doesn’t have the legs to go looking for the ball and I’ve never rated him as a finisher with his feet.
Graham showed promise early on in his career but has chosen to work his way up through the leagues and to be frank Watford will do well to hold on to him long term. Unlike Helguson he is a goalscorer through and through. He would not look out of place in a top end Championship outfit, maybe even a lower end Premier League club. There can be no doubt he profited from some dubious officiating and atrocious QPR defending tonight but his double turned out to be the difference between the sides. Clint Hill is too old to play left back and I said so when he was at Palace. On the counter or building attacks down the right, the Hornets exploited his lack of pace and his natural tendency to have a centre back’s positioning despite his wide berth.
More worryingly Warnock has made a mistake putting the captain’s armband on a flair player like Taarabt. Just the same as Cristiano Ronaldo with the Portuguese national side it has proven to be inhibiting and has not had the desired effect of turning him into a better team player by placing responsibility on his shoulders. The Moroccan was trying to the run the show by himself. Promotions and success do not come from mavericks. I am struggling to remember a more selfish display by a player, let alone by one wearing the captain’s armband! With one up top end product has to be a demand, not posturing, showboating and delaying crosses and through balls. He was totally ineffective.
Another defensive problem seems to be Matthew Connolly. The Arsenal youth academy product started out his career as a right full back and his conversion to the middle seemed to be working out, but tonight he was exposed. He is still young and hopefully will have taken some pointers from the defeat which will stand him in good stead for improving his game. Out wide I thought Jamie Mackie and Tommy Smith could have given more.
With the experience of Martin Taylor and John Eustace forming a strong spine with highly-rated keeper Scott Loach, who did his stock no harm at all this evening, Mackay has surrounded them with some of their own and youngsters brought in from Scotland and the lower leagues. Lloyd Doyley and Adrian Mariappa are academy garudates, Stephen McGinn and Don Cowie came from north of the border, and Will Buckley joined the Vicarage Road outfit from Rochdale. We mustn’t forget Graham too plied his trade for Carlisle in the division below before signing for the Hornets last summer.
It is a testament to the burgeoning talent of the Scot that these players have stepped up or made the grade from youth and reserve teams. They appear to have a great togetherness and spirit, evidenced on tonight’s outstanding performance by all of the XI. The need for new owners is obvious, but there are more than a few sides that have to worry about avoiding the drop that concern more than Watford. The worry as identified above is losing Graham, with Troy Deeney given limited opportunities to prove himself at a higher level since signing from Walsall.
Rangers scarcely deserved their consolation, though they did look more threatening with Rob Hulse on the pitch. He really does have a lot more about him than Helguson. Leon Clarke was almost absent despite his introduction from the bench along with the former Derby and Leeds centre forward. It seemed a shame that Watford’s clean sheet was ruined and Tommy Smith did not celebrate his eighty-ninth minute goal against one of his former clubs. QPR need to bounce back, not lose sight of their objective and start playing like a team again.
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Eleventh CL Advance for Gunners
Arsenal 3 FK Partizan 1
The opposition seemingly already on their winter break Arsene Wenger’s side booked their place in the knockout phase of the Champions League with an eventually comfortable home win. Partizan, who would finish bottom of the group no matter what the outcome, put five across midfield in a tactical decision that on paper was designed to stifle the Gunners but in practice highlighted their own lack of ambition and quality. To some extent it worked, the visitors keeping Arsenal out from open play during the first half, but you always felt it was only a matter of time before the English heavyweights clicked.
Everything was so nearly from Wenger’s men early on. As it often is, they take time to put that killer pass or ball in, with early approach play always threatening and effective. Apart from the van Persie penalty however the home side did not test Vladimir Stojkovic in the visiting goal at all until after the break. There’s no doubt that the award of a spot kick on the half hour was correct and the Dutchman wearing the captain’s armband for the night dispatched it well. Marko Jovanovic will have to learn to only make challenges across an attacker if he is certain of getting something on the ball.
Discussions of defensive frailties have become something of a broken record in commentaries on Arsenal this season, but these were exposed again in Brazilian striker Cleo’s equaliser for the Serbian outfit five minutes after the restart. I don’t rate Koscielny as a player who knows what he is doing when he is dragged out of position; he never looks sure of his ground and has been sent off in such scenarios during matches covered on JC Football previously this season. Squillaci’s deflection on the shot certainly helped it past Fabianski who had had nothing whatsoever to do until that point.
The Gunners rallied and brought on Walcott for the ineffective Arshavin, whose pace changed the game. I thought the Macedonian full back Aleksandar Lazevski impressed, limiting Nasri and Sagna down the right in the first half. After the break however and with a new adversary facing him, he hadn’t any ideas how to deal with it. Jovanovic was again poor defensively with a pathetic headed clearance which Walcott simply chested down and volleyed into the corner past Stojkovic.
Nasri put the game beyond doubt with his twelfth of the campaign the other side of the seventy-five minute mark, but it was the one-two prior to his finish across the keeper between Alex Song and Bendtner that made it. You worry when Fabregas is injured who breaks from midfield and the Cameroonian is not the obvious choice but he has a fantastic engine and showed wonderful footwork to put it on a place for the in-form Frenchman.
It wasn’t vintage Arsenal, but winning the group had been taken out of their hands anyway. Partizan were really quite poor and with two sitting, the other midfield three did almost nothing to aid Cleo who fed off scraps all night long. The final word must go to a great servant of the Serbains Mladen Krstajic who has had a long and successful career, the pinnacle of which was winning the Bundesliga with Bremen and playing for his country at the 2006 World Cup. Now thirty six, Belgrade need to replace him. Experience is one thing, atrocious positioning and lack of legs as a central defender is a recipe for disaster.
The opposition seemingly already on their winter break Arsene Wenger’s side booked their place in the knockout phase of the Champions League with an eventually comfortable home win. Partizan, who would finish bottom of the group no matter what the outcome, put five across midfield in a tactical decision that on paper was designed to stifle the Gunners but in practice highlighted their own lack of ambition and quality. To some extent it worked, the visitors keeping Arsenal out from open play during the first half, but you always felt it was only a matter of time before the English heavyweights clicked.
Everything was so nearly from Wenger’s men early on. As it often is, they take time to put that killer pass or ball in, with early approach play always threatening and effective. Apart from the van Persie penalty however the home side did not test Vladimir Stojkovic in the visiting goal at all until after the break. There’s no doubt that the award of a spot kick on the half hour was correct and the Dutchman wearing the captain’s armband for the night dispatched it well. Marko Jovanovic will have to learn to only make challenges across an attacker if he is certain of getting something on the ball.
Discussions of defensive frailties have become something of a broken record in commentaries on Arsenal this season, but these were exposed again in Brazilian striker Cleo’s equaliser for the Serbian outfit five minutes after the restart. I don’t rate Koscielny as a player who knows what he is doing when he is dragged out of position; he never looks sure of his ground and has been sent off in such scenarios during matches covered on JC Football previously this season. Squillaci’s deflection on the shot certainly helped it past Fabianski who had had nothing whatsoever to do until that point.
The Gunners rallied and brought on Walcott for the ineffective Arshavin, whose pace changed the game. I thought the Macedonian full back Aleksandar Lazevski impressed, limiting Nasri and Sagna down the right in the first half. After the break however and with a new adversary facing him, he hadn’t any ideas how to deal with it. Jovanovic was again poor defensively with a pathetic headed clearance which Walcott simply chested down and volleyed into the corner past Stojkovic.
Nasri put the game beyond doubt with his twelfth of the campaign the other side of the seventy-five minute mark, but it was the one-two prior to his finish across the keeper between Alex Song and Bendtner that made it. You worry when Fabregas is injured who breaks from midfield and the Cameroonian is not the obvious choice but he has a fantastic engine and showed wonderful footwork to put it on a place for the in-form Frenchman.
It wasn’t vintage Arsenal, but winning the group had been taken out of their hands anyway. Partizan were really quite poor and with two sitting, the other midfield three did almost nothing to aid Cleo who fed off scraps all night long. The final word must go to a great servant of the Serbains Mladen Krstajic who has had a long and successful career, the pinnacle of which was winning the Bundesliga with Bremen and playing for his country at the 2006 World Cup. Now thirty six, Belgrade need to replace him. Experience is one thing, atrocious positioning and lack of legs as a central defender is a recipe for disaster.
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