From what i gather reading the generous plethora of footballing websites and online newspapers, a lot of United fans are blaming Gibson and Evans for the defeat, and I cannot understand why. Evans did have a shaky few months recently but he seems to have emerged from that and was impressive last night alongside the brilliant Smalling who looked a class above. Gibson was pretty good in the middle, didn’t lose the ball often and knocked it around quite neatly, the main problem for Gibson and United as a whole, was the fact that Ferguson still thinks Diouf and Macheda are good players.

I cannot see why he continues to play those two asshats. They have shown absolutely nothing since joining United (the Cico Villa goal was a complete fluke) and continue to disappoint every single time they step out onto the pitch. Macheda has been at United now since 2007 and in one 30 minute sub appearance Ravel Morrison managed to show more promise than the Italian buffoon has in 4 years. He has never looked good enough for the first team, he is rarely talked about by the reserve coaches, he completely failed in his stint at Sampdoria and there is not a single team in the land that is looking to loan in him January. Get rid now, release him on a free, I don’t care.

Diouf has shown even less. He is the living embodiment of a knee-jerk transfer. The guy had a pretty decent scoring record for Molde (who weren’t even in the Norwegian top division back then) and United decided to buy him. Since joining he has done nothing. He spent an entire season at Blackburn for god’s sake and got 3 goals. If you can only get 3 goals a season for Blackburn, what in blue blazes are you doing at United?. Plus, in terms of categorising a player, he is way out of the “young promising talent yet to fully develop” zone, as he is already 23 years old. He’s older than Sturridge and the same age as people like Young, Hernandez and Aguero!. Go away please.

The sheer lack of any talent up top meant that Valencia took it upon himself to be the main winger, the main creative midfielder and the main goal-scorer all at the same bloody time. Whilst i was proud of the lad (whose quality also stood out), I never expected him to do it all alone.

I also do not understand why Fergie decides to remove Berbatov if he wasn’t injured. Fergie cannot remove the halves best player and then claim that he was serious about winning the match.
He also made massive mistakes with the selection. Carrick and Fletcher could have done with a run out as they are still to find top form and Young could have benefitted from 60 minutes or so after his injury. You could of at least had a bit of experience on the bench. I can fully understand why Giggs wasn’t able to play given the recent events, but the bench could of had Evra or Hernandez as back up for the last 10 minutes, just in case.

Overall, a bad night for United, an absolutely woeful night for the manager.

It’s similar in the case of QPR main man Adel Taarabt, who was removed at half time by Neil Warnock with the score at 3-0 to Fulham. Warnock’s response to this was wholly more appealing than Mancini’s, as he decided to remove two midfielders and replace them with two strikers, however the decision backfired even worse than the Italian in Germany. By removing both Taarabt and Derry (who is a rather unsung trojan in midfield), Warnock invited the pressure from Fulham as the likes of Dempsey, Murphy and Dembele were given even more room to exploit as the 3 strikers (none of whom have been particularly impressive anyway this season) were opposed to chasing back and helping out their team mates. I did wonder at the start of the season whether or not it was a good idea for Warnock to build a new team from the unwanted players at other clubs as it was likely to completely alienate those that earned the promotion, and create a genuinely unwelcome sense of individualism. When you consider that Taarabt is the leading light at his club that has been specifically told, by his manager no less, to be more of a live wire and to go back to his old ways of maverick stylings, was removed in favour of a striker (Campbell) that has only just joined the club, has only managed to find the net once (against a poor Wolves showing) and has only managed to complete a full 90 minutes once this season, you begin to understand just why Adel got so mad.

Some of the blame does lie at the feet of the player, granted. When annoyed, frustrated and angered, professional footballers should be able to use their own power of will to remain cool, but when the person behind you, that is supposed to know exactly what he is doing, looks as though he has no idea what he’s doing, lids might understandably be flipping.

Nothing in the sport is as simple as black and white, good and bad, light and dark. And yes, I will admit that it is far easier to concoct an article whilst being a miserable sod, as is the natural way of the human race to constantly criticise and wish for change beyond our own reach, however, today, there is actually something truly worrying that I wish to address. Well, I say worrying, perhaps what I really mean is disturbing?, I’m unsure, you make your own mind up about this one.

There is a Brazilian superkid (yes, another one) that goes by the name of Lucas Rodrigues Moura da Silva, or simply Lucas. He is 18 years old, 5 foot 7″ tall and occupies an attacking midfield role for his current club, his only ever club, Sao Paulo. At Sao Paulo he has played as little as 30 games, scoring 8 goals. He has featured 9 times for the Brazil U20 squad, and 4 times for the Brazil senior side. He has only ever played within the Brazilian league, has had no exposure to European football and is perfectly happy at his current club. He is currently valued, by a host of top European teams, at an average asking price of £95m. His rise to global acclaim has only happened within the past two weeks, and already there are cries of a new Puskas, a new di Stefano, Maradona reincarnated. He is being tracked by both Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Real Madrid and both Milan clubs.

You add this to the startling proclamation of Thiago Alcantara, who, after only ever playing 14 senior games for his club Barcelona, has sealed a new 4 year deal with a buyout clause of £80m, and you start to wonder, are these kids actually the second coming of the greatest we have ever seen, or are they simple commodities stuck with price tags to be used in financial war?.

Maybe its a sign of the times?. Perhaps, as the world of football continues to develop, we are going to see these sort of monetary values become even more common place, perhaps in the not too distant future, every single transfer negotiation will skip the early bidding and go straight in at £40m?. This may be inevitable, we may have to simply sit back and hark at the unstoppable upscale of a miners leisure activity. All I will say, is that labelling a child with a price tag of close to £100m without ever really seeing them play, without them ever having actually visited the country you want them to permanently emigrate too, is absolutely, clinically, unequivocably, insane.

[Quick Author Note - Apologies for the lack of updated content in the recent weeks, the only real excuse i can offer is that during the period of time just as the season ends and just before the real transfers begin to happen, I actually have very little to discuss with yourselves. However, as people are starting to move around.....]

You may recall, for those of you that are persistent purveyors of my particularly petit online publishings (alliteration is fun!), that back in December of last year, I constructed an article debating the rather confusing James Milner to Manchester City transfer. I outlined the implications in terms of his career moving forward and the general stigma attached to players that move for the money rather than the sport. In lieu of that post, I would like to discuss some of the current transfer dealings that have happened, or are about to go through.

- Kevin Nolan (Newcastle –> West Ham // Completed)

Now before i start to discuss this transfer, I would like to state for the record that i have an inordinate amount of respect for any sportsman/woman who is able to take a look at their career and realise that they need to take a step back in order to take two steps forward. For Nolan to not only take the step down from the Premiership to the Championship, but to also take a rather substantial hit to his wages every week, is a rather commendable act.

However, one has to wonder just why a player would want to remove himself from the best League on the planet, when there really is nobody forcing him to leave. Could it be that he feels more at home working under Sam Allardyce?, Could it be that Nolan feels he is coming to the end of his career and would much rather spend his twilight years helping a team to actually achieve something, i.e promotion, rather than feature in a stagnant pool of general mid-table mediocrity?, or, and this is perhaps the most plausible reason, could it be that the ego that drives us all, has, for Kevin, told him that he would stand out as a much better player were he to ply his trade in a poorer standard of competition?. Whatever the reason is, this is one transfer that i just cannot get my head around. There is no guarantee that West Ham will shoot straight back up into the Premiership, what with some of their star players from last season having already left, and their talisman on his way, coupled with the fact that the top 6 teams in the championship are every bit as good as the Hammers.

Gael Clichy (Arsenal –> Manchester City // Pending)

This one I just cannot fathom at all. I can appreciate the fact that Clichy may feel slightly disappointed after having experienced the overwhelming exuberance of being part of the infamous ‘Invincibles’ (of which, Clichy is the only remaining first team player), and then to see Arsenal go on an inexplicable run of not really winning anything of note, but if its triumphs and trophies that you’re after, why would you possibly think that it’s a smart idea to move a side that, bar this years FA Cup victory, haven’t actually won anything since 1976?

Yes there is a current reformation going on at City, yes there are some genuine world-class talents at the club and yes the whole franchise does seem to be taking huge positive strides in the right direction, but, and this a big but, at the same time, the owners have more money than sense, nobody has any idea if any of the players are staying or leaving and the general harmony of the squad could be likened to a gabble of teenage Prom Queens fighting for the last pair of Jimmy Choo’s 5 minutes before Harvey Nicks closes. It’s a risk that may very well pay off and leave a lot of people eating their words were City to go on a European rampage and devour every single tournament that there is to partake in, but it could just as likely backfire as City never really achieve their true potential. Not to mention the fact that Clichy is a bona-fide first team player for his current squad, and would have to compete with the likes of Kolarov, Boateng, Zabaletta, Bridge, Boyata and Onouha for the left back birth were he to jump to the sky blue ship.

Jordan Henderson (Sunderland –> Liverpool // Completed)

Many have spoken about this move already, so i won’t bore you with the same old regurgitated ensembles about how he is unproven, overpriced and only worth that much cause of his nationality. What i will attempt to highlight however, is the ineptitude of some, if not all, of Liverpool’s recent signings in midfield, and just why they feel it necessary to add even more ingredients to an already overflowing pot. Consider this; if you were to construct the Liverpool middle 4 (assuming Kenny plays a 4-4-2) and your talent pool included Steven Gerrard, Maxi Rodriguez, Raul Meireles, Dirk Kuyt, Joe Cole, Milan Jovanovic, Lucas Leiva, Christian Poulsen, Jay Spearing, Jonjo Shelvey and the returning Alberto Aquilani, would you actually find a place in the first team midfield for Henderson?. Granted, Jordan is one for the future, and he outlines the impressive youth policy that Liverpool have in effect right now (what with the likes of Wilson, Ayala, Pacheco, Robinson and Flanagan breaking through), but to spend upwards of £20m on a player that has rarely displayed an ability to actually perform at a level required for a Champions League team (assuming thats where Liverpool are aiming), is rather perplexing.

Whilst teams like Wolves, Wigan and Blackburn may not play the beautiful game in the way that Arsenal do, the sheer dogged determination to achieve survival has everybodies attention. With only 8 points separating Wolves in 20th and Aston Villa in 9th, it is still mathematically plausible that any team currently residing in the bottom half of the table could be relegated come the closing week of the season.

One thing that has emerged, above all else, from the relegation battle is the ethos of the Seasiders. Blackpool have slowly started to grate on myself and a lot of other supporters, as their care free attitude has gradually transformed into an arrogant swagger. It’s almost as if they believe, that by playing more attractive football than the other relegation strugglers, that they have more reason to achieve survival than everybody else. Whilst they have certainly been that figurative breath of fresh air this season, simply playing attractive football does not warrant relegation avoidance. With Avram Grant, Roberto Martinez and Mick McCarthy working their behinds off every week in order to secure the points needed for the magic 40 mark, it must be rather frustrating to have one of your neighbours claim that, although they might get tonked 3-0 every weekend, they deserve their place in the Premiership because they are a delight to watch. It would certainly irk me if style persevered over substance.

Personally, i think McCarthy is one of the best managers in the league, certainly one of the most underrated, and although his team is arguably a Championship side (with only Hanneman, Jarvis and possibly Doyle being Premiership quality), it would be more of a detriment to the league to lose Mick than it would be to lose Blackpool FC. Over the course of the 33 games played by Blackpool, currently occupying 18th place, the quality of their squad has come to light. Whilst they may be entertainers, you cannot hide from the fact that bar Charlie Adam, they have not made the transition from Championship side to Premiership side (they have the leagues worst goal difference), and at the end of the day they are exactly where they deserve to be.

I would not wish the disadvantages and despair of relegation upon any team, but as 3 do have to go down, i would ideally like it to be Blackburn, Birmingham and West Ham.

For me Blackburn are the worst football team in the league in terms of the style of play and the way they approach every fixture. They have gone right back to square one under Steve Kean, adopting the philosophy of having big strikers that everybody aims long balls towards. Add to that the ludicrous decision to sack Sam Allardyce, a decision that Blackburn have still not recovered from, the apparent lack of any understanding of the English game from the new Owners and the fact that they have conceded the most goals away from home this season, I believe they have not done enough to ensure another year of Top Flight football. Although realistically they will probably survive.

Likewise, the lack of any goal threat from Birmingham has seen them win only 8 out of their 32 games (a 25% win rate), whilst drawing 14. That record in itself is synonymous with relegation and whilst i have nothing but respect for Alex Mcleish, when you realise that they have the joint worst goals tally (32, along with Wigan) in the entire league, you start to wonder if they would be better off in a lower division.

And finally, West Ham. Possibly the better of the 3 teams, with Green, Upson, Parker, Cole, Keane, Bridge and Ba all showing that they deserve to be playing regular football in the Premiership, it has been a simple lack of bite that has seen West Ham stuck quite firmly in the bottom 3 for the majority of the season. They have the individuals, but when the sum of all the parts are combined they often come up short against every other side in the league, proven by the statistic of having the fewest number of wins of any team. It would be a shame to lose the Hammers, as they are one of those entities that you simply associate with the Premiership, however their form has been far too sporadic for a team looking to survive.

Germany, the reigning U-21 champions, showed exactly why it can be so fruitful to allow your youngsters time out from club football to venture into the world of internationals at such a tender age, as a number of the players that did so well in the 2009 Euro U-21′s (predictably thrashing England 4-0 in the final) became part of the full senior Germany team that performed so well in the recent 2010 World Cup. It is often said that the top players can only be measured by how well they perform on the global stage, so surely allowing them experience of this whilst they are still developing as players will surely result in a better standard of professional?. Yes an injury may occur, but that’s the sport with which we hold so much love for. To pick up an injury, you have to be playing football. Jack Wilshere could quite easily pick up a calf strain whilst playing for Arsenal and be out for 8 weeks, where as had he gone to the U-21 Euros he may not have picked up the injury and could have led England to victory, gained experience, a winner’s medal and the support of the nation. Picking up injuries is all random, it’s based mainly on luck. Professional footballers train to such a high standard these days that injuries can occur at anytime, so preventing a player from participating in a tournament through fear of injury is simply irrelevant and asinine.

Allow the kids to go. They have at least 10 years of football ahead of them, touch wood, what is one summer in the grand scheme of things?. Besides, an England U-21 team without the likes of Wilshere and Carroll may face the same ridicule and embarrassment that the senior squad did, not 6 months ago. If we wrap all of tomorrow stars in cotton wool, there may be nothing for future generations to view and experience.
There is no use in taking 3 steps backwards if only 2 steps are made in progress.

• Arsenal’s first choice centre back pairing seem to be done and dusted for the season. Thomas Vermaelen has had 6 reoccurrences of his original injury, that have set him back another 12 weeks at least. Bearing in mind the season has only 9 weeks remaining, it also looks like Johan Djourou will miss most, if not all, of Arsenal’s title run in as he has been given a diagnosis of 6 weeks at best.

• Cesc Fabregas, Theo Wallcott and Alex Song will all miss the WBA game.

• The other rather shocking news to come out of the Emirates this week is that Arsene Wenger has re-signed the 41 year old former German number 1, Jens Lehman, as a back up to Manuel Almunia. ‘Mad Jens’ has been drafted into the Arsenal set up as both Lukasz Fabianski and Wojciech Szczesny are injured, and Vito Mannone is currently out on loan at Hull City.

• Luis Nani has been causing major shockwaves recently, in more ways than one. He has released a press statement voicing his fury at Jamie Carragher, after the Liverpool stalwart left a large gash on the shin (I don’t understand shin injuries, where are your shin pads?) of the Portuguese winger. The vicious tone with which Nani released his statement clearly showed that no love has been lost between the two players.

• Then, almost immediately afterwards, Nani addressed the issue of his displeasure with his current contract. After seeing Darren Fletcher, Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney all receive bumped up contracts recently, he is rather disappointed that he has not been offered an increase in wage after the admittedly brilliant season that he is currently enjoying. Whilst he may warrant an increase, he has to realise that it is the manager’s decision, not his. His threats to leave look like a rather pitiful mimic of Rooney’s theatrics.

• Sir Alex Ferguson has been handed a 5 match touchline ban for his comments made towards referee Martin Atkinson after the league defeat against Chelsea. The ban will come into immediate affect and has been met by Ferguson’s usual vehemence. He firmly believes that he was right to contest the decisions that Atkinson made during the game, and will appeal in the name of ‘truth and justice’ against his ban.

• Sir Alex has also admitted that Rio Ferdinand’s season might be over, as the perma-crock constantly hits relapses of old injuries. The current English skipper has only played 15 club games all season, which clearly shows that the injuries are getting the better of him, and at the ripe old age of 32, this maybe the end of the United centre back.

• Owen Coyle, who faces Manchester United this weekend with his in form Bolton side, has backed the Red Devils to win the Premier League title.

• Torres has played down his recent goal draught.

• Sir Alex Ferguson has also played down talk of Manchester United drawing Barcelona in tomorrow’s Champions League Quarter Final and Semi Final draws.

That’s about it. Back to normal next time.

One thing that has surprised me

Surely when a team falls apart so vehemently as Arsenal did against Birmingham, it is the manager’s job to pick them back up again and sort out the mess. It is the managers vocation, occupation and direct responsibility to make sure that even though you may stare into the face of defeat, you still give it your all and deliver the performances. If your team is incapable of doing so, and continue to play ineffective, albeit attractive football, surely the main man is the man in the frame?. Now, im not suggesting for one second that Arsenal need a change of personal, due to the wonders that Wenger has worked over the past decade he really does deserve the respect he demands, but when you cannot feel anything but sympathy for one of the best teams in the land, surely that shows just how frustratingly bad Arsenal can be at times?.

I’m not an expert, nor am I highly trained in the field of Football management, however I am able to spot weaknesses when they are so blatantly obvious. Using a 19-year-old, admittedly a very talented 19-year-old, as not only your main linchpin,but also your chief conjurer in the middle of the park  is not a great idea considering the talents of Samir Nasri are being wasted out on the wing. I have never understood Wenger’s main formation of 3 in the middle, 2 wingers and 1 up top, especially when you take into account that the players that are often played out wide; Arshavin, Nasri and Rosicky, are primarily central midfielders at heart, not wingers.

Flooding the midfield is also not a great idea when half of your midfield stable is made up of two players, in Diaby and Denilson, that are quite clearly out of their depth at Arsenal FC. Never has Alex Song been missed so dearly.

To top it all  off, Wenger then expects a man he has treated so improperly, Marouane Chamakh, to come off the bench and do the business for him as the main striker. I cannot believe that Chamakh would have been in the best frame of mind, considering that at the beginning of the season he was the number 1 forward, and has subsequently fallen behind even Nicklas Bendter in the pecking order. He has been unfairly treated by Wenger, as Arsenal would most likely be fighting for a top 4 position, rather than the title, had it not been for Chamakh’s performances and goals during the time that Van Persie was injured.

To cut a long article short, sympathy is only due when somebody incurs a bad run of luck, or is duped by a piece of atrocious officiating. When a manager and a team are simply poor, rather than unlucky, no sympathy is due whatsoever.

———————

A few points to add-on;

- Johan Djourou will be out for the rest of the season will a badly dislocated shoulder

- Man United have reportedly had a bid accepted for Everton’s Jack Rodwell

- Surely Chris Smalling is on the shortlist for Young Player of the Year?.

- Van Der Sar may be even tougher to replace than Giggs and Scholes.

- Darron Gibson wasn’t playing. I refuse to admit that he was on the pitch. I don’t ever remember seeing him do anything of worth.

In a match where defending was just as important as attacking, Sandro stood out as the difference between Spurs and Milan, much like Gattuso or Pirlo often do for the latter mentioned squad, Sandro took the bull by the horns, gripped on tight and eventually won.

Surely now, we can all finally credit the defensive midfielder as a genuine role to be played, and as Song’s omission from the Arsenal team showed, it can often be the one area of the team that is so sorely missed when players like Diame, Cattermole and Henry are injured or suspended.

As far as Tottenham go as a team progressing, I would want them to draw Barcelona, because David is never quite as good as he is when up against the greatest Goliath.

The fact that he has managed to maintain such a high position in the league season after season whilst spending less than Sunderland, and balancing the books of one of the best teams in the world (Arsenal are the only team in the current top 10 NOT in some form of debt), whilst going against the apparent formula for success is truly admirable. But on Sunday, we saw the culmination of just why Arsenal fail to win any Silverware the ‘Wenger’ way.

The main mistake that Arsene has always made, and it has cost his team on so many different occasions, is using players too soon after a long-term injury. Robin van Persie, Alex Song, Thomas Vermaelen, Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas have all been victims of a recurrence of an old injury because they were rushed back into the first team far too soon. When United and Chelsea will rest their player untill he is completely and utterly 100% ready to go, Arsenal will wait untill the player hits 80% and then assume that he is ready to play, and it is for that reason that Arsenal were without their captain for the Carling Cup Final. Would Fabregas have been injured if he had been given two weeks rest before the game?. He has been carrying an ongoing injury for sometime now, and to consistently use him when he isn’t absolutely fit is a massive managerial mistake, and it also shows a sheer lack of care for your player. With Fabregas in the team, you just know that Arsenal would have been a far better team against Birmingham, and they would have had a far better chance of winning their first Trophy in 6 years.

You can also point out the managerial failings of playing the Fabregas clone, Samir Nasri out on the right when Arsenal were crying out for some creativity in behind van Persie. I am a great admirer of young Jack Wilshere, the fact that he is already considered a first team player for his country at his age is a testament to just how talented he really is, but the work that he and Song had to cover due to battling Bowyer and Ferguson meant that Arsenal were lacking any sort of influence, influence Nasri has in buckets, around the Birmingham penalty area. Also, Wenger’s reluctance to realise that Laurent Koscielny is simply not good enough to be a centre back for a team that have Champions league aspirations, proved to be the downfall towards the end.

They will win something, soon, they are too good not to. But the style of Wenger, whilst fantastically original in the modern world of big spenders, may not be the way to go about it. The difference between an Arsenal with a fully fit Vermaelen and Fabregas, and an Arsenal without is absolutely mind blowing. When you are reluctant to spend, but have holes in your team, you surely must expect those cracks to show every once in a while.