“David James is said to be interested in taking over from Avram Grant as Portsmouth manager. James could be a good fit for the club – if anyone is likely to know what the Portsmouth players need to do, it could be the man who has been standing behind them for the past four years. For the player, however, taking the job could be a disastrous career move. James is not short of job prospects.” (WSC)
“An interesting (if ultimately pointless) graph that shows the points tally of equivalent clubs from the Premiership, La Liga and Serie A (all of which play with a 20-team, 38-game season).” (Zonal Marking)
Claude Gellée, Idyll: Landscape with a Draughtsman Sketching Ruins
“On the surface, the praise for Lionel Messi during his current extraordinary run has been pure. Astonishing — astonished — praise has followed his every deed. Not for a generation has there been such a rush to consider someone alongside the pantheon of great players past; to name a planet after him; to dress him in armour, plonk him on a horse, dip him in bronze and place him halfway between La Masia and Camp Nou, beside a stall selling miniature bronze-coloured plastic replica hims. Scienticians are rushing to prove by July that he is, in fact, a physical constant.” (Sport is a TV Show) (Must Read Soccer)
“Despite another implosion late in the season, the Gunners have plenty of positives to take forward to next season.” (Arsenal Column)
“There are strong rumours this morning that, in Gareth Barry’s absence, Fabio Capello is considering switching to a system featuring three centre-backs for the World Cup. It would unquestionably be a risky move, completely changing England’s shape that was so successful in qualifying, and installing a three-man defence that hasn’t been used effectively by England for twenty years. The BBC report states that ‘A switch in formation would be a major change for the Italian, who has demonstrated his preference for 4-4-2 throughout his coaching career’, which is certainly true, but a three-man defence has not been alien to him.” (Zonal Marking)
“The Premier League may not be home to the best football, an honour belonging to La Liga of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but it is certainly home to the most excitement. The Spanish keep their beach-balls on the beach. The season lacked a star but not drama and there was enough barmy material to keep soap-opera scriptwriters in episodes for years.” (Telegraph – Henry Winter)
“As the dust settles on a Premier League season that somehow managed to be full of surprises and yet completely predictable at the same time, Football Further looks at some of the tactical trends that characterised the campaign.” (Football Further)
The 2010 Premier Premiership Revue Review
“Was this a season of disappointment? Of competitive balance? A two horse race with an overpriced and underachieving show pony stealing headlines? Has the European soccer planet shifted gravitational pull towards the Iberian peninsula? The story lines abounded, and a few refreshing moments shall wet your appetite before the MOST IMPORTANT EVENT is explained.” (futfanatico)
“It depends how you want to interpret the number ‘1′. There is no shame in losing a league title by a single point, but the flip side is that when you’re a club as used to success as Manchester United, a mere one season without silverware is considered a failure. The statistics about goals easily sum up United’s problems. They had the best defensive record, despite the fact that first-choice central defensive partnership Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic started just nine of the 38 games together.” (Zonal Marking)
“Chelsea – Premiership champions 2009/10. A great side? Probably not, but it’s hard to argue that, over the course of the season, they do not deserve to lift the trophy. In terms of the players who have started the greatest number of matches, Chelsea’s XI this season reads: Petr Cech (34); Branislav Ivanovic (21), John Terry (37), Ricardo Carvalho (22), Ashley Cole (25); Jon Obi Mikel (21), Michael Ballack (26), Frank Lampard (36), Florent Malouda (25), Nicolas Anelka (31) and Didier Drogba (31). And yet, on only one one occasion this season has that XI actually started a match together, in the 2-0 home victory over Arsenal in February, when Ancelotti fielded a Christmas Tree formation with Anelka and Malouda playing Didier Drogba.” (Zonal Marking)
Carlo Ancelotti eyes long Chelsea stay & more trophies
“Boss Carlo Ancelotti plans to establish Chelsea as the leading force in English football after winning the Premier League in his first season at the club. The Blues last lifted the title in 2006 but thrashed Wigan 8-0 on Sunday to wrest it away from Manchester United.” (BBC)
Chelsea Wins Premier League Title
“Chelsea regained the English Premier League soccer title from Manchester United with a 8-0 victory over Wigan on Sunday as Didier Drogba scored three goals. Even though United finished the campaign with a 4-0 home victory over Stoke at Old Trafford, the big celebrations were at Stamford Bridge in London where goals by Mr. Drogba, two by Nicolas Anelka and one each by Frank Lampard, Salomon Kalou and Ashley Cole left Chelsea champions by one point in manager Carlo Ancelotti’s first season in English football.” (WSJ)
“‘What makes a player?’ Answers to this question, here quoted from Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger’s foreword to the newish book A Beautiful Game, are plentiful in world football. We debate the right age to go pro, the role of intensive youth academies, shifting population demographics, the dangers and benefits of increasing professionalization, and more in hopes of figuring out how to best tap the potential of millions of children playing the game with unstructured joy.” (Pitch Invasion)
“The increased conditioning and speed of the game means the technical level of players will be forced to improve thereby exposing the specialists. Juventus’ problems started with their over-reliance on Diego and Felipe Melo. That, some would argue, is justified given that they were big money summer signings but the Old Lady’s woes should not be entirely blamed on the Brazilian pair. Diego, in particular, is not a traditional ‘trequartista’ as he likes to drop deep but Juventus were expecting him to play as one.” (Arsenal Column)
Andrea Mantegna, Pallas Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue
“Tottenham emerged victorious from this Champions League playoff, primarily because they created more clear-cut chances. Peter Crouch’s winner was slightly fortunate, but it was no more than Spurs deserved. Manchester City played their expected line-up in a game they needed to win – two strikers with Emmanuel Adebayor as the targetman, and Carlos Tevez dropping off in behind, in a position he seems to prefer, judging by his recent display at Arsenal. Craig Bellamy and Adam Johnson continued as inverted wingers.” (Zonal Marking)
Manchester City 0 Tottenham Hotspur 1: match report
“Fortune favoured the brave last night and the brave now inherit a fortune. Adventurously set up by Harry Redknapp, Tottenham Hotspur hit the heights of the lucrative Champions League and it was the 6ft 7in Peter Crouch who lifted them and their ecstatic support into dream-land.” (Telegraph – Henry Winter)
Match Of The Midweek: Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur
“When the Champions League play-off suggestion was made earlier this season (and laughed out of court accordingly), few would have guessed that we would be where we are with four and a half days of the Premier League season left to play. Aston Villa’s wobbly second half of the season coupled with Liverpool ably demonstrating that the abjectness that they displayed during the first half of the season was absolutely no flash in the pan have set up something approaching what the originators of the plan had envisaged. With two matches left of the season, either Manchester City or Tottenham Hotspur will be taking their chances in the final qualifying round of the Champions League. It has been a very odd season indeed in the Premier League.” (twohundredpercent)
Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur – Video Highlights and Recap – EPL – 5 May 2010“The battle for the last UEFA Champions League spot in the English Premier League was at stake on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 as Manchester City hosted Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs had a one point lead over City before the match and would clinch a top four finish with a victory. Both teams will be playing in Europe next season in either the Europa or Champions League.” (The 90th Minute)
“Having supposedly died out halfway through the last decade, the 4-4-2 formation has enjoyed a surprising renaissance this season. England’s unthinking attachment to the shape first introduced by Alf Ramsey’s ‘Wingless Wonders’ in 1966 (pictured) took a battering when José Mourinho swaggered into English football in 2004 and promptly won back-to-back Premier League titles with a counter-attacking 4-3-3 at Chelsea. The 2006 World Cup, meanwhile, was dominated by teams playing in a 4-2-3-1 to such an extent that hosts Germany were the only side playing in a 4-4-2 to achieve anything of note in the tournament.” (Football Further)
“In 2004, Gabriele Marcotti wrote an article for The Times about Barcelona legend Pep Guardiola. It wasn’t a celebratory piece looking back at Guardiola’s fine career, nor remarking on his ability to defy the critics and keep playing at a high standard, like Paolo Maldini. It was about how, in 2004-spec football, Guardiola was useless. That is not to say that he had declined as a player. A physically unremarkable player, his domain was sitting front of his own defence and spraying passes across the pitch for his more illustrious teammates – Michael Laudrup, Hristo Stoichkov and Romario being amongst the biggest names to have benefited from his presence. When Marcotti wrote the article, at 33, Guardiola should have been at his peak.” (Zonal Marking)
“Arsenal’s pressing game has suffered since the start of the season mostly due to a matter of distances. Shortened names are all the rage these days. From Subo (Susan Boyle), R-Pat (Robert Pattinson) and Brangelina (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie), it’s a wonder they still haven’t thought of one for Babyshambles front man Pete Doherty. And after Barcelona swept all before them to bag six trophies last year, with Bordaeux and Chile prevailing as underdogs doing it, Arsenal became the latest side at the start of this season to adopt football’s trendiest tactic – that of ‘high intensity pressing’.” (Arsenal Column)
Matthias Sammer, a classic sweeper
“Jonathan Wilson recently wrote in his excellent ‘The Question’ series about the possibility of the return of the sweeper to football. The sweeper prospered as the ’spare man’ in a three-man central defence up against a two-man attack, so now we have two-man central defences up against one-man attacks, should one centre-back not become a sweeper? The idea is music to the ears of anyone who fondly remembers Euro 96. The player of the tournament was Matthias Sammer, the sweeper in the German 3-4-1-2 system that went onto win the tournament. As well as being the most important player in defence, clearing up behind the two markers, he also had license to go forward and launch attacks, and found himself scoring (in open play) on more than one occasion.” (Zonal Marking)
Adidas advertisement makes the link between soccer and religion
“English football season has had more than its fair share of madness this season, but the race for the title is starting to give off a hint of being the title race that no-one wins. Only one of the top three clubs in the Premier League have been able to manage all three points, and even that came at the end of a less than inspiring performance with yet another injury time winner. Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal were all long ago guaranteed their places in the Champions League, and perhaps it is this that is firing the most nervy end of season run-in for several seasons.” (twohundredpercent)
“Tottenham record their first league win over Arsenal for a decade, and simultaneously rule Arsenal out of the title race. Arsene Wenger’s side have been written off on at least two previous occasions, but this, surely, is the end of the road. No major surprises in the starting line-ups – with injuries throughout the side, Wenger merely chose what he had. As against Barcelona, the only choice was between Emmanuel Eboue and Theo Walcott, and the Ivorian got the nod. Denilson played in space behind Abou Diaby and Samir Nasri in a 4-1-4-1 shape.” (Zonal Marking)
What a Debut, What a Goal
“What a Premier League debut and what a golazo. Danny Rose, a 19-year-old wing for Tottenham Hotspur, will have a difficult time topping the first goal of his English Premier League career — a 30-yard blast 10 minutes into the north London derby against rival Arsenal on Wednesday. (NYT)
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Arsenal – Recap and Video Highlights – English Premier League – Wednesday, April 14, 2010
“Two London based clubs met in a derby match in the English Premier League as Tottenham Hotspur hosted Arsenal on Wednesday, April 14, 2010. Arsenal needed a victory to keep their title hopes alive while Tottenham needed a victory to keep pace with 4th place Manchester City. A draw or loss would likely end both club’s chances of their goals.” (The 90th Minute)
“If anyone had said at the beginning of this season that an unknown Belgian defender’s move from Ajax to Arsenal would be one of the best signings in the Premier League, they would probably have been laughed at. Yet Thomas Vermaelen soon proved his worth, adding steel to the Arsenal defence and chipping in with some good goals.” (ESPN)
“It rather seems as if every time there is a refereeing decision that costs a team a point or two, the usual suspects in the media start stating the case for all manner of whizzy gizmos to make sure that such a travesty of justice never occurs again. FIFA, however, are against the introduction of such technology and Rob Freeman has similar reservations.” (twohundredpercent)
“As an academic with an interest in economic analysis, the downfall of the English teams in the Champions League this season did not surprise me, even while it disappointed me as a Manchester United fan. Earlier this season, I was actually expecting that the English teams would “under-perform” in the competition, when set against general expectations, and now that United have followed Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool out of the Champions League, they have done so. Except I would argue they did not actually under-perform; they did what economic analysis suggested might happen.” (Sporting Intelligence)
“There’s little doubt that Thomas Vermalen has been a good signing for Arsenal. Lacking a top-class centre-back last year, Arsene Wenger did brilliantly to dispose of Kolo Toure and bring in the Belgian – and made a profit by doing so. Vermaelen is extremely popular with the Arsenal fans because he’s the type of player they haven’t signed in recent years – a tall, strong defender who enjoys getting tough tackles in and competing in the air. His early-season goalscoring form made him an instant hit, and he’ll probably win ’signing of the season’ in many pundits’ end-of-season awards.” (Zonal Marking)
“Bayern do it again. Their victory in the last round against Fiorentina featured a last-minute goal at home to win the first leg 2-1, and then a 2-3 defeat away from home, with a brilliant Arjen Robben ‘winner’ near the end. It seemed inevitable when Bayern pulled a goal back before half-time that the same would happen here.” (Zonal Marking)
Manchester United 3-2 Bayern Munich – Recap and Video Highlights
“Manchester United hosted Bayern Munich in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday, April 7, 2010. Wayne Rooney, who was injured in the first leg, made a surprise start for the match. The winner of the match would face the winner of Bordeax/Lyon. The match took place at Old Trafford with over 70,000 in attendance.” (The 90th Minute)
“There’s so much talk about Barcelona’s style of play in large part because it’s just that: a style. And styles are not easy to come by in soccer. The term can mislead, because it suggests mere aesthetics, how a team looks. But a genuine style is more than that. Just as a poet’s style is not just a few habits of sound-making but a whole way of organizing experience and language, a coherent strategy for marshaling forces of thought and feeling and then deploying them, a soccer style is a complete approach to the game.” (Run of Play)
“So it has come to pass. For the first time in seven years, there will be no English clubs in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The manner of the defeats of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United were from three different chapters of the book, ‘How To Get Eliminated From A Two-Legged Cup Tie’. Chelsea were edged out by Internazionale over two legs during which they seldom looked a considerably inferior team. Arsenal were thrashed – fortunate to find a way back into the first leg against Barcelona, they were hopelessly outplayed by one single player in the return match. Manchester United can, at least count themselves slightly unlucky – beaten on away goals after two very tight matches.” (twohundredpercent)
“Barcelona hosted the 2nd leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals against Arsenal with the score 2-2. The winner would advance to the semifinals to face Inter Milan. Arsenal came into the match without several key players (Gallas, Arshavin, and Fabregas) while Barcelona were without two defenders (Puyol and Pique). Arsenal would not be the favorites and have a tough task to get a win at the Camp Nou.” (The 90th Minute)
Barcelona 4 Arsenal 1; agg 6-3: match report
“They don’t need to hold an election to find the right man for No 10 here. Lionel Messi, who wears the Barcelona No 10 shirt with such distinction, scored four goals in a performance of such majesty that comparisons with the great Diego Maradona grow in substance with each stylish showing.” (Telegraph – Henry Winter)
Match Of The Midweek: Barcelona 4-1 Arsenal
“How, then, do Arsenal solve a problem like Lionel Messi? If he isn’t unquestionably the best player in the world at the moment then he is in the top two or three, and if this evening’s Champions League quarter-final proves anything, it proves that one player, in irresistable form, can win a match. Lionel Messi has been in sensational form all season but this evening, with an individual performance so sublime that it feels at times as if he is the only player on the pitch, there is simply no stopping him. Arsenal supporters may wonder aloud what difference the injured Cesc Fabregas, William Gallas and Robin Van Persie might have made to their team, but it is difficult to imagine that anything barring a full, career-threatening assort upon Messi would have made any difference to what happens this evening.” (twohundredpercent)
Messi – the devastating decoy
“Reading Phil McNulty’s blog after the Arsenal-Barcelona game, I was struck by the number of people who went out of their way to criticise the performance of Lionel Messi. It is indicative of the enormous pressure the young Argentine will be under in the World Cup – the same pressure that broke his friend and former Barca team-mate Ronaldinho four years ago. People are expecting circus tricks and something special in every game. It is the dilemma of the big name star in today’s football.” (BBC – Tim Vickery)
Messi Lifts Barcelona With 4 Goals
“Lionel Messi pretty much put Barcelona in the European Champions League semifinals by himself. The reigning world player of the year scored four goals, getting a hat trick in a 22-minute span of the first half, to lift the defending champions over Arsenal 4-1 Tuesday night and advance Barcelona to the semifinals for the third straight year. ‘A player like this only comes along every 25-30 years,’ Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez said.” (NYT)
Barcelona 4-1 Arsenal: Messi produces a stunning performance, but Arsenal gave him the room to do so
“If there was any remaining doubt that Lionel Messi is the greatest football player of his generation, they were erased tonight, as Barcelona got the better of Arsenal in the much-hyped battle of the teams playing football ‘the right way’. Arsenal didn’t lose this match tactically, but they didn’t help themselves.” (Zonal Marking)
Barcelona – Arsenal: A Champion League Live Blog
“We all wish no one had to win. Of course we do. In a just world, these two teams would combine to form a pure white dove made of energy, which would fly across the land, fields greening in its wake. But they can’t (probably, depending on Xavi’s passing). Someone has to win this, and it won’t be Cesc Fabregas’s femur. Savagery is afoot, and if you’re using the word “dilly-dallying,” you’re dilly-dallying already.” (Run of Play)
Barcelona’s celestial No 10 has Nou Camp in raptures
“It is getting increasingly difficult not to resort to hyperbole when describing the feats of Lionel Andrés Messi. Judgement should be withheld until the World Cup, when the 22-year-old will carry the hopes of an Argentina team handicapped by having Diego Maradona as coach. If Messi can still perform then as he does for Barcelona he truly will rank alongside Pele, Alfredo Di Stefano, Johan Cruyff and Maradona himself.” (Independent)
Masterclass from Lionel Messi ends Arsenal’s European dream
“Arsenal were outclassed by a Barcelona side simply to good for them and a masterclass from Lionel Messi in which he scored a breathtaking hat-trick in twenty-one minutes. You could have tried blindfolding him. Handcuffing him even. To a railing. Quick-dried slabs of cement around his feet. Rolled a giant boulder off a cliff like a Wile E. Coyote contraption. In fact, no matter what you tried, nothing was going to stop him. Lionel Messi was that good and comparisons with the best ever are wholly justified.” (Arsenal Column)
‘Mythical, universal, the Lord’s anointed one’ – Spain hails Leo Messi
“Leo Messi did something impossible last night. He got even better. He had scored in the Champions League final, the Copa del Rey final and the World Club Cup final, emulated that goal from Diego Maradona, hit three in the clasico against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou, two at the Santiago Bernabéu, and scored two hat-tricks in a row. But he’d never scored four before. Until last night. Last night, even Marca and AS, the myopic leaders of the Madrid media dropped to their knees; last night, so did the English. They could ignore him no more. Last night, as El PaÌs, put it, “Messi ate Arsenal’.” (Guardian)
“It used to be that men were men, thighs were fierce, kits were muddy, fields were gouged, and every match was a wet November night away to Scunthorpe. It wasn’t pretty, but English football knew what it was. If you saw a ball, every fiber of a being that had been handed down to you through generations of hard-kneed public-house titans cried out to kick it as far as it could sail. If you saw the Mona Lisa, well, tosh, you’d knock her over once just to let her know you were there.” (Run of Play)
“Arsenal must remain disciplined first and foremost if they are to have a chances of success against Barcelona and exploit quickly on the break. ‘This will be the most spectacular of all the quarter-finals in terms of football. These are two teams that play open football and the match will be a duel to keep hold of the ball.’ That was the reaction of Barcelona’s sporting director, Txiki Begiristain shortly after the quarter-final draw was made but following the 2-2 draw in the first leg, there is only going to be one side who will have the ball.” (Arsenal Column)
“Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid will be preparing for Saturday’s Spanish “clasico” with Barcelona, but the rest of the soccer world will be fixated on the four return matches in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. ‘I don’t like to watch the Champions League matches because it leaves me a bit annoyed because I know that our team was good enough to remain in the competition and we are not because of our own fault,’ Ronaldo told a Spanish television station.” (NYT)
Miracle of the Cross at the Bridge of San Lorenzo, Gentile Bellini
“Pep Guardiola described Barcelona’s supremely dominant first-half performance against Arsenal as “the best 45 minutes” the Catalans have produced during his reign. A thrilling encounter ended 2-2 at Emirates Stadium in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final, but Manuel Almunia had to be at his best in the first half to deny, amongst others, Xavi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as Barcelona enjoyed 71% possession and produced a succession of excellent chances.” (ESPN)
Arsenal 2-2 Barcelona: Wenger’s side utterly outclassed, but somehow rescue a draw
“A crazy game of football to watch, a difficult one to analyse. Two open, attacking sides produced a wonderful game for the neutral, but one that will probably leave both managers absolutely fuming – Wenger because his side were awful and conceded poor goals, Guardiola because his side threw away a 0-2 lead.” (Zonal Marking)
Theo Walcott’s dazzling introduction gives Arsenal hope to take to Barcelona
“Theo Walcott’s introduction to the fray switched Arsenal’s flow to the dynamic and the direct to give the Gunners hope in the second leg at the Nou Camp. Barely twenty minutes had registered on the clock but those watching the game were in unified agreement that already, they were witnessing something spectacular. Arsenal had just survived the most relentless onslaught you are likely to see in world football this season but yet, somehow, came out of the early exchange with no goals conceded.” (Arsenal Column)
Fantasy Football Comes Alive
“Tonight, the game gets beautiful again. As Arsenal and Barcelona prepare to meet at London’s Emirates Stadium in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals, this is fantasy football come to life: a showdown between arguably the two most attractive teams in Europe today. Here are two sides linked by a philosophy of flair, a shared vision that prizes creativity and fast, free-flowing, one-touch football above all else. It’s what the Spanish call tiki-taka, what the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, describes as ‘football that is like art’.” (WSJ)
School’s Out – 8 things I noticed from Arsenal vs Barca
“Before we start, I should probably preface this article by saying I’m going to be writing it in the style of the game itself. Which is to say, it will be overwhelmingly a Barca love in for the first 2/3rds before finally rallying to the Arsenal cause in the final stretch. So any over sensitive Gooners should probably skip to the end. You have been warned.” (FootballFanCast)
Arsenal 2-2 FC Barcelona – Recap and Video Highlights – UEFA Champions League – Wednesday, March 31, 2010
“Arsenal hosted FC Barcelona in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 31, 2010. The two teams are known for playing very attacking and open styles that could provide a very entertaining match. Barcelona remain one of the favorites to win the tournament while Arsenal need a good result with the second leg at the Camp Nou.” (The 90th Minute)
“The benching of Arsenal’s too most gifted dribblers due to slight knocks did not help the Gunners’ cause in the 1-1 draw to Birmingham. Two goals. One had a bit of luck; the other was dizzyingly graceful. Yet both were just rewards for the almost impudent desire of both players – although paved with good intentions – to get as close to the goal as possible.” (Arsenal Column)
“The harmony of 60,000 voices that drifts out of the Emirates Stadium in London every other week is evidence that sport can bring people together. Singing as one, Arsenal fans serenade the leadership of the bookish, 60-year-old Frenchman who leads their favorite soccer team. ‘One Arsene Wenger,’ rings the chant . ‘There’s only one, there’s only one Arsene Wenger. One Arsene Wenger!’” (NYT)
“As we’re about to seamlessly pass into another Champions League week, what better time is there to look ahead to the mouth watering quarter final ties ahead? Well, slightly later in the week perhaps, or even actually in said week as opposed to just before it maybe, but sod it I’m gonna do it anyway and I’ll be damned if such a trivial thing will stop me. So without further ado…” (Football Fan Cast)
Inter
“A brief break from the in-depth tactical analysis here, to round-up the major European leagues, highlight this weekend’s crucial table-topping fixtures, and celebrate how wonderful European football has been this season.” (Zonal Marking)
“Speaking as a Reading fan, I remember the day vividly. In my time away at University in Portsmouth, we were playing Middlesbrough away in an utter dog fight of a match in 2007/2008. This was not going to be pretty, with both teams languishing in the relegation zone, the deepest, darkest echelon of any league table where nobody wants to be in May. With 91 minutes of this dire spectacle gone, terrier like midfielder James Harper popped up to score a priceless winner for us. Sheer jubilation.” (EPL Talk)
Steven Gerrard
“As a lone infantryman wistfully bugles a lamenting Last Post into the chill twilight air, Team Limey stands forlornly on the battlements of Castle Limey contemplating our final EPL column for SI.com. Together, over a last pint of ale, let’s relive some highlights from our five years here. And what a five years it’s been.” (SI)
“Could this be the year that a French team wins the European Champions League? The last team to do so was Marseille, which won the title in 1993, the first year the current format for the European Cup was adopted. But no team from France has lifted the trophy since. Olympique Lyon and Girondins Bordeaux aimed to end that drought this season; both teams advanced to the quarterfinals in impressive fashion. But it will be one or the other as the two teams were drawn Friday to face each other in the quarterfinal round.” (NYT)
“With eight games to go (9 in Chelsea’s case) and this being the closest league finish in many many years, it presents endless opportunities for the dreamer in me to fantasize – a la that Kurosawa classic, Rashomon. Presenting two of such tales with four crucial fixtures (chapters) taken as the crux.” (BigFourZa!)
“Six weeks ago, Oliver Kay joined us ahead of the onset of UEFA Champions League’s Round of 16, venturing a prediction that the English Premier League teams would find this year’s tournament rougher than those of the preceding seasons. Today, Oliver joined me to reflect on the knock-out round performances of Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea. Also, we look forward to this Sunday’s match between Manchester United and Liverpool and ask what Liverpool needs to go to maintain their string of good performances over Alex Ferguson’s side.” (EPL Talk)
“Italian coaches will be everywhere at the Bridge. The Impossible Job has become the Italian Job. Marcello Lippi has won the World Cup while Giovanni Trapattoni wins friends with the Republic of Ireland. Zola, though, is under pressure. Widely considered one of the nicest men in an often heartless profession, the Sardinian who made the ball smile as an elegant maestro with Napoli, Parma and Chelsea, among others, now battles to keep West Ham United in the Premier League.” (Telegraph – Henry Winter)
“As Muhammad Ali demonstrated, sports fans will warm to a braggart provided he lives up to his boasts. Followers of Arsenal have waited a long, long time for Nicklas Bendtner to deliver his prophesied knockout performance. ‘Trust me,’ he had said last autumn, ‘it will happen. I look around at other players, I see my own ability, and I can’t see anything that tells me I won’t be among the best strikers in the world.'” (NYT)
“Slowly, a behind-the-scenes footballing revolution is growing. Whether it’s Portsmouth’s ongoing demise, the Glazers burdening Manchester United with hundreds of millions of pounds with of debt, Hicks and Gillett at Liverpool, Ashley at Newcastle or, lower down, the Vaughan family taking Chester City to the wall, the spotlight has well and truly turned on the owners. And with fans becoming more alarmed at the mismanagement of their clubs at boardroom level, supporters are asking whether it’s time that the fans took control of their clubs.” (Pitch Invasion)
“During the course of my research for this piece, I discovered that my planned intro, Jerry Seinfeld’s bit about how supporting a team was tantamount to “rooting for laundry” has already descended – or should that be ascended? – to the level of cliche. That’s what I get for being late to Seinfeld, I suppose. Still, every cliche has a kernel of truth (as the cliche has it), so let us anyway remind ourselves of precisely what he said…” (Norman Einsteins)
“Faced with their toughest opponent for a generation, Europe’s leading football clubs have been forced to adopt a new tactic: frugality. Creditors have caught up with the beautiful game in recent weeks, raising fears that spiraling wages and reckless spending could put the future of some of the world’s most iconic teams at risk.” (WSJ)
“Every night inside the Revival Centre, patients offer up thanks to Arsenal Football Club, who have brought funds and hope to a blighted region. With 2,000 treated last year, many children now survive. Some don’t. The last request of a 15-year-old terminally ill girl was that she be buried in her beloved Arsenal top.” (Telegraph – Henry Winter)
“Notts County might not be a name that sets the pulses of football fans around the world pulsing. It doesn’t even do that for most of the city of Nottingham, never mind the rest of planet football. In recent decades County has been comprehensively outshone by its near rivals just across the River Trent at Nottingham Forest.” (Pitch Invasion)
“I don’t know what I could write, what other words could be contributed to describe the best deep lying centre forwards that the Premier League has even seen. The two songs here are done by some Arsenal supporting musical acts about his time at Highbury, but I want give a mention to one of the greatest World Cup goals I’ve ever witnessed…” (Football and Music)
José Mourinho
“There might never have been a coach more intent on turning his teams into a sideshow to his own performance than José Mourinho. Yet he is not the pretty sight he imagines. On Saturday night in the San Siro, his Inter Milan was reduced by foul play and gamesmanship to nine men before halftime for the second match running. No matter, Mourinho applauded them, mocked the referee, and boasted that a team of his would have to be reduced to six players to lose a home game. He is a bitter and twisted man — and a successful one.” (NYT)
“Kicked out of the near-earth-orbit studio by overrated Indie rockers Vampire Weekend and with a presenter still somewhere in the alpine wilderness, Football Weekly makes do with a broom cupboard and whoever Producer Pete could find five minutes before recording was due to commence. Luckily he found Paul MacInnes, Rob Smyth, Kevin McCarra and Paul Doyle at a loose end and they all agreed to do him a turn. The hastily assembled bunch waste no time getting stuck into the week’s Champions League action, including Lukasz Fabianski’s night to forget, a Rooney-inspired comeback at the San Siro and Bayern Munich’s ludicrously offside goal to beat Fiorintina.” (Guardian – James Richardson)
“Sometimes, it feels as if Sol Campbell’s entire life might be scripted by someone that was laid off from the Eastenders’ writing team. In recent times, there doesn’t appear to have been very much in his life that hasn’t been accompanied with some sort of melodrama, and this didn’t let up in tonight’s match at the Estádio do Dragão. Moreover, the match raised fresh questions over Arsene Wenger’s goalkeeping policy, as both Porto goals were, ultimately, the fault of the Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski and the match is now balanced on a very delicate line ahead of the return match at The Emirates Stadium.” (twohundredpercent)
“The coincidences during Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League games were simply too delicious to go without notice. At Porto’s Dragão Stadium in Portugal, the referee from the game that featured Thierry Henry’s infamous Hand of Gaul goal, Martin Hansson, was excoriated by Arsenal Manager Arsène Wenger for a call that led directly to Porto’s game-winning goal. Henry, of course, is a former star at Arsenal. Hansson’s vapor lock during France’s playoff victory over Ireland last year sent the French to South Africa and the Irish into conniptions.” (NYT)
“Note : This post was written after the defeat to Fiorentina in the Champions league. With me still lost for words over the loss at Emirates, I’d like to make a re-visit to continue my support for the man who cares for the club the most. So some of the readers who are new to this blog kindly have a look. (For the old ones, yeah the ‘Psycho’ part was re-edited for obvious reasons.” (All Four One..)
“Twenty minutes into the second half of Hamburg’s match at Stuttgart on Saturday in the German Bundesliga and the score deadlocked at 1-1, visiting coach Bruno Labbadia called in the cavalry. The lanky figure of Ruud Van Nistelrooy trotted on to the pitch for what was only his sixth appearance in the last 15 months. Within twelve minutes, he had turned the game, striking twice from close range, first with a left-footed pounce and then with a cool right-footed diagonal finish. Hamburg went on to win 3-1, rising to fourth in the league standings and keeping its hopes of a Champions’ League spot next season intact.” (WSJ)
The tribute money: Peter finding the silver coin in the mouth of the fish, Jacobs Jordaens
“Arsenal breathed new life into their diminishing Premier League title hopes with a narrow win over Liverpool at Emirates Stadium. Abou Diaby finally got the breakthrough on 72 minutes, when he headed in Tomas Rosicky’s cross as the Gunners bounced back from successive defeats to Manchester United and Chelsea. Liverpool, who are just ahead of Manchester City in fourth place, almost grabbed a late equaliser when substitute Ryan Babel saw his shot tipped onto the bar.” (ESPN)
Steven Gerrard criticises ‘crazy’ Howard Webb for not giving Liverpool penalty
“Steven Gerrard has described referee Howard Webb’s decision not to award Liverpool a penalty during their 1-0 defeat to Arsenal last night as ‘crazy’. Arsenal captain Cesc Fábregas admitted after the match that he handled Gerrard’s stoppage-time free-kick and although television replays suggested the incident was outside the area, Gerrard was left fuming at missing out on a chance to salvage a point and maintain the club’s unbeaten run.” (Guardian)
Arsenal 1-0 Liverpool – Recap and Video Highlights – English Premier League – Wednesday, February 10, 2010
“Arsenal hosted Liverpool on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 in the English Premier League needing a win to keep their title hopes alive. Liverpool were looking to close the gap between the two sides and move remain in 4th place in the league table. A win for Arsenal would keep their chances still alive with Man U and Chelsea having tough matches on the same day. Arsenal 1-0 Liverpool – Video Highlights” (The 90th Minute)
“James is back with another top-banana podcast featuring John Ashdown, Barry Glendenning and Paul Doyle. Midweek Premier League matches mean plenty of talking points: including Louis Saha increasing John Terry’s woe, Arsenal back to winning ways, and Aston Villa’s limited ambition against Manchester United. Sid Lowe is on the phone from Madrid with the truth about those Cesc Fábregas to Barcelona rumours, while James’s Italian round-up includes news of Ultras storming Lazio’s training ground.” (Guardian – James Richardson)
“The pod squad analyse Chelsea’s demolition of Arsenal, Liverpool’s bruising battle with Everton, and Tottenham Hotspur’s snoozefest with Aston Villa and ask: why are we getting another dose of the same old same old? Also in the show – and lest we be accussed of Big Four-centricity – we discuss Hull City’s recent revival now that Phil Brown ditched the earpiece and the goatee. Plus, we ponder whether Fabio Capello’s done the right thing in stripping John Terry of the England captaincy. And we get dewy-eyed about those Brat Pack movies of the 1980s. Finally, our favourite Teuton Raphael Honigstein brings us news of a rift in the German national team and the latest from the Bundesliga; Sid Lowe brings us up to date with Spain’s La Liga; and Jimbo tells us about Lazio’s mounting woes in Serie A.” (Guardian – James Richardson)
“Ajax Amsterdam’s general director recently tallied his club’s transfers, and came up with this estimate: only 8.3 per cent of the footballers Ajax had bought in the past decade had succeeded. Ajax’s Dutch rivals, he said, had done even worse. This January European clubs spent barely anything during the “transfer window”. English clubs forked out about £30m ($48m, €34m) on new players, their lowest for any January since 2003. German, Spanish and French clubs spent even less. The credit crunch has bitten soccer in the leg.” (Simon Kuper)
“On January 9, Racing Santander’s 18-year-old attacking midfielder Sergio Canales scored two goals to defeat Sevilla and become seemingly the most desired young player on the planet. It has been reported that Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Barcelona and Real Madrid are all interested in him, while Vicente del Bosque reportedly hasn’t ruled out his inclusion in the Spanish squad for the World Cup.” (WSC)
“January has to be the most depressing month for football journalists. The pressure to concoct player transfer rumours is so relentless it easily qualifies as working under duress. The suits upstairs are squeezing their Editors chuffers to ensure that they fill news columns and air waves. There’s a very fine line between exclusive breaking news and faecal matter you can only read whilst pinching your nose to avoid the stench.” (A Cultured Left Foot)
“The old adage about defenses winning championships is starting to look outdated. Across Europe’s leading football leagues right now, the major title contenders have ditched the defensive mindset traditionally associated with success in favor of a new adventurous line of attack, in which teams are far more interested in scoring goals than preventing them. The result has been a deluge of goals that has delighted supporters and sent statisticians scurrying to check the record books.” (WSJ)
Scissors Kick 