Posted on December 16th, 2009 by David
 Many people and clubs involved in the Premier League are up to arms about Wolverhampton Wanderers team selection when they faced Manchester United at old trafford last night.
The Wolves team that Mick McCarthy sent out to play against the champions was largely second choice players; in contrast to United’s team sheet which was almost all regular first team players.
Predictably Manchester won the game easily and went joint top of the league leaving many other clubs with a bitter taste; seeing points gifted to their competitors.
Personally I can not see what all the fuss is about. McCarthy made a pretty understandable decision. He has two games in one week, one against United in which they would be very unlikely to get any points no matter which team they put out, and another match against Burnley. So he has rested his key players to increases his chances in an already winnable match against Burnley.
This seems to make sense from Wolves point of view, and it just seems so crazy that the Premier League would try to force managers to make strategic decision not based on how it will affect their own team, but how it could affect position battles between other teams in the league…
I do feel for the fans who had traveled to see essentially a reserves team line up, but any true fan it going to want to see their team avoid relegation gather than be “entertained” for the one game they’ve traveled to.
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Posted on October 21st, 2009 by David
 Over the years Alex Ferguson and Rafa Benitez have had some epic battles both off and on the pitch. Sometimes Rafa has won, sometimes Ferguson, but always Ferguson has come away having the last laugh at the of the season.
This weekend could be the biggest match of them all; a gleaming chance for Ferguson to deliver the final death blow, possibly sealing Benitez’ Premier League demise.
Liverpool are coming off the back of 4 consecutive losses, the worst run in 20 years. This season they have truly become a 2 man team, with Gerrard and Torres just having to do way too much. The knives are out for Rafa in the boardroom and now even the terraces are calling for blood.
At the moment top half of the table is looking a good result for Liverpool, let alone top four.
On the other hand Manchester United are top of the table already, despite often starting the season slowly. They have take the loss of Ronaldo in their stride and kept winning. Also having a 100% record in the Champions League, opposed to Liverpool’s 1 win and 2 losses.
Surely if Manchester United go to Anfield and not only deal Liverpool their 5th straight loss, but also give them a right spanking, which they could well do; it might see Rafa being shown the exit.
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Posted on October 7th, 2009 by David
 This week the Liverpool co-owner George Gillett has come out and put all the blame for Liverpool’s poor start to the season on Rafa Benitez. Saying that Liverpool have spent more money than their competitors but due to bad management by Benitez are failing to challenge for trophies.
Rafa has, more professionally, declined to comment on the situation; but is clearly not happy with the way Gillett has public criticized the Spaniard.
It seems like every season since Hicks and Gillett took over the club there has been bickering between the manager and the owners.
I’m not a big fan of Rafa, he has spent poorly on the wrong players, sold the wrong players, his player rotation policy is often at fault, and his tactics are sometimes overly negative. However I have to side with him on this topic; the owners have no business publicly airing their dirty laundry. If they have a problem with Rafa they should call a meet with Rafa, not call a press conference.
It’s clear that the owners have no loyalty to Liverpool FC and are only looking out for their own interests. They are still looking to sell the club and are trying to make it seem to potentially buyers that the club is in good shape; they are just not winning because of the bad manager.
For all Rafa’s failings the failings of the owners are 10 folder. They said they were going to build a new stadium when they came in…where has that gone? They said they’ve given Rafa more money to spend than other clubs, but where is all that “money”? This summer they sold Alonso, Arbaloa for £35m and bought Aquilani and Johnson for £37.5m (plus some other smaller ins and outs). So that’s a £2.5m transfer budget…? That doesn’t exactly seem like Rafa has been given a lot of cash to work with.
The fact is Gillett and Hicks have come in and borrowed way too much against the club and for a while now have been trying to sneak out the back door. Like rats from a sinking ship they are trying to distance themselves from the lack of achievements at Liverpool.
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Posted on September 29th, 2009 by David
I am back from Singapore after having a great time watching the Grand Prix, well done Lewis Hamilton who ran away with it in the end. I have to recommend Singapore to any travelers out there as it is a fantastic city, great people and excellent food.
 Anyways time to get back to football!
Manchester City have revealed their £32.5million striker, Robinho, is expected to take another 3 weeks to recover from injury.
At first this seems to be very bad news, but this might not necessarily be the case. Robinho was not playing exceptionally well prior to the injury, and Manchester City have been done very well without him.
When he does come back from injury Mark Huge will undoubtedly feel the pressure to get him back into the team. This would likely result in Bellamy or Tevez having to ride the bench; although they have both been playing very well and would definitely be disgruntled by such a move .
Huge may have dodge a team selection bullet for now, but at some point he is going to have to start making difficult decisions as to which big ego he is most willing to rub the wrong way.
Posted in Manager Talk, Player Focus, Team Focus | No Comments »
Posted on August 30th, 2009 by David
 It was a great match between Manchester United and Arsenal yesterday, in which Arsenal took a first half lead, but United came back in the second half with a penalty and an own goal to nick the result.
There were a couple of incidences which bothered me. Firstly where on earth did the referee find 5 minutes of added on time at the end of the match from? Surely such a long amount of added on time should be reserved for a serious injury, severe time wasting or some kind of players bust up. There were almost no stoppages in the game last night, I think the officials need to be held accountable for time added on. They can’t just base the the time on how heated the game is, or how much chance one team has of coming back.
This brings me to the second point; in the final seconds of the 5th minute of time added on Van Persie scored a would be equalizer only to have it chalked off because Gallas had been offside when he nodded the ball down.
Meanwhile Wenger was celebrating the goal on the sidelines only to realize it wasn’t going to count, he then took his frustrations out on a water bottle, kicking it down the sidelines. This is when 5 minutes of absolute foolishness began. Keeping in mind that time was already up and the match was one kick of the ball away from the final whistle, the 4th official decided to call the referee over and report the Wenger water bottle kicking. They then discussed the situation for a while and decided to send Wenger to the stands, where the Arsenal boss had to walk into a sea of Old Trafford faithful all booing, jeering and making certain gestures.
As if this walk of shame was not enough, the officials then decided he was not far enough back from the pitch and would need to come back down and instead leave the field completely. As a United fan I just about fell off the couch laughing, but I can imagine there are quite a few irate Gunners fans out there, seeing their manager treated in such a manner.
Wenger had not even got off the field before the final whistle came. The officials should be thoroughly ashamed of the way the game end, and the way they handled Wenger’s understandable water bottle incident.
Posted in Manager Talk, Matches | No Comments »
Posted on August 16th, 2009 by David
 It was just last week that David Moyes was saying “Well he knows who makes the decisions at Everton – it’s me, not like other clubs.” in regards to the much hyped transfer saga of Joleon Lescott to Manchester City.
It will be interesting to see if Moyes is so keen to tout himself as the only decision maker at Everton after the shocking 6-1 opening day home defeat to Arsenal.
I can’t remember the last time Everton got thrashed like this at home, but Moyes obviously needs to rethink the team direction this season, because they played very poorly. Against an Arsenal team which is supposedly weakened from the last season, but they were looking anything but weak last night.
Many people, such as myself, had written off Arsene Wenger’s title chances this season, but after this display he has definitely got everyone’s attention.
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Posted on August 15th, 2009 by David
 He could make me eat my words, but from what I’ve seen so far I don’t expect Carlo Ancelotti to make it as Chelsea boss all way to the end the season.
His midfield diamond does not look suited to Chelsea at all, and you’d think he would have realized this from the Community Shield match against Manchester United, and would have adjusted this tactic to suit the team.
In both matches they have played so far, against United and Hull City they have looked very narrow, and especially against Hull looked lacking in the width needed to break teams down.
You may think I’m crazy seeing as Chelsea have won 2 games out of 2; a perfect 100% record for the new manager. But Chelsea have the players and mentality to get results no matter what the tactics, and this is what they have done so far. But this will not work week in week out, and nor will Roman Abramovich accept it week in week out.
The problem with some of the managers that Chelsea have signed is they are “big name” managers, who all come with their specific way of doing things, and everyone has to follow that way. Instead of tayloring their tactics to suit the players.
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Posted on August 10th, 2009 by David
 There are so many topics that could be written about the great community shield match between Manchester United and Chelsea. But one subject which has been bothering me is Sir Alex Ferguson’s penalty taker selection.
First he sent up Giggs with his years of experience, and having won the community shield 7 times already; you can’t fault that decision. Giggs uncharacteristically missed, but these things happen some times.
Next he sent up Carrick; not a striker, but he can put the ball just about anywhere he wants. Carrick stuck the penalty away well.
This is where SAF lost me; his third penalty taker was Patrice Evra?? At which point I assumed Evra was in fact a secret master of penalties, which he had proved to Ferguson on the training ground. But his penalty was predictably terrible; not sure he was trying to score or warm up the keeper.
Why when you have players such as Rooney, Owen, Scholes, would you pick Evra to take a penalty? He really has got me baffled.
Posted in Manager Talk, Matches, Player Focus | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 30th, 2009 by David
 As I previously wrote, I thought Mark Hughes made a mistake in signing Emmanuel Adebayor from Arsenal. Who could blame Arsene Wenger for cashing in on a player who was not putting in enough effort, and becoming a disruption in the locker room. Adebayor could be replaced with the money he brought in.
Kolo Toure is a totally different story, he is a natural leader; can play as an out and out defender or as a defensive midfielder and can become the heart and soul of a team. Wenger, in my opinion, is either crazy to let him go, or had very little control over the situation due to lack of funds.
Selling a key player to a direct opponent, who have declared their goal as stealing your champions league spot this season, is… ill advised to say the least.
I used to think Arsene Wenger was a great manager, but over the last few seasons Arsenal have deteriorated. I think even a few people in the Arsenal camp are starting to doubt him. He will surely live or die by this Toure decision, if he manages to successfully replace the players he has sold, and goes on to do better than last season he will sure gain a new level of loyalty, moving into the realm of “unsackable”. But if Arsenal fail to finish in the top 4 this season it could well be the end for Wenger.
Posted in Manager Talk, Player Focus, Transfers | No Comments »
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