Latest Articles
Does SOS Stand For 'Shame Of Shankly'?
There's embarrassment from Liverpool fans after Spirit Of Shankly's talk of 'chaos' at Anfield. Plus; big-ups for Roberto Martinez, perfect penalties and lots more...
It's Time For Liverpool Fans To Trust FSG
FSG seem to have adopted a scattergun approach to appointing a new manager, but one chap says it's time to trust them. Plus, Spurs fans looking up and saving money...
All Articles
If you have anything to say on any subject, mail us at theeditor@football365.com
For Torres, See Giggs
All this Torres talk reminds me a bit of another great player, who seemingly 'lost it' in the peak of his career.
He'd won pretty much every trophy a footballer could by the time he was 28 (which is more than Torres can say) and after a couple of awkward seasons riddled with injury, it seemed like his time at the best team in the country was up. There were even media briefings suggesting he was getting sent out to pasture at the end of his contract. Another player whose 'legs had gone', had 'lost half a yard' and seemed 'devoid of confidence'.
That man was Ryan Giggs (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/sports_talk/2638203.stm).
In an interview a few years back, Giggs said he runs at 70% of his top speed since he turned 30. Making that kind of change to the way you play takes a lot of time and discipline - and I think it's that sort of fundamental shift that Torres is having to make now his legs aren't doing what they used to. Imagine being the best striker in the world for a while, then suddenly, through no fault of your own, you're suddenly not as good? It'd drive you barmy. And the more he's thinking about what he's got to change, the worse it will get.
But things will change. The pressure will lift, he'll get another hair cut, (he'll start s*****g his brother's wife?) and he'll improve. He won't ever be the same again, but that doesn't mean he won't be as good.
I will wager there's life in the old dog Torres yet...
Lawless PNE
What's It With Chelsea And Strikers?
Torres' travails have a familiar feeling for any Chelsea fan - the club are so bad at buying expensive strikers I think there may be some kind of gypsy curse in effect.
Pierluigi Casiraghi, Chris Sutton, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Hernan Crespo, Adrian Mutu, Mateja Kezman, Didier Drogba, Andriy Shevchenko, Fernando Torres and Romelu Lukaku.
Eleven strikers signed by Chelsea costing over £5 million each - total value is around £196 million, plus change. (I'm not counting Salomon Kalou, he never plays centr- forward, and I don't really know what he's all about).
Jimmy Floyd, Gudjohnsen and Drogba were obvious hits, and I'll give Lukaku the benefit of the doubt, since he's still a mystery. That's about £45 million well spent with the jury still out on the £18 million on Lukaku. The other £133 million has been spent on - according to Wikipedia (I know, but I'm at work and don't have time for a full check) - a total of 44 league goals.
Tore Andre Flo scored 50 in three seasons, for the initial outlay of £300,000 and an £11.7 million profit.
AVB might want to rethink that rumoured bid for Radamel Falcao.
Clayton (available on a free) Davis
It's All About Small Margins
Incorrect: Jad 'Cup half full' Hawwa writes 'Mourinho knew Chelsea inside out and it surely helped him with his tactics as the Italian giants brushed us aside.'
Mourinho and Inter's safe passage past Chelsea in that tie was helped enormously due to the fact that both the linesman and referee ignored Walter Samuel's trip on Salomon Kalou in the penalty box when the latter was through one on one with the keeper at the San Siro. Chelsea were comfortable at the time and the score was 0-0. Inter should have been 1-0 down and down to ten men.
so puhlease, stop with all the this manager's a genius or that manager's a genius etc etc. There are way too many variables in any football match/season to dismiss them as not having a bearing on the result of any game/season.
Exhibit A: Terry slipping and hitting the post in that game in Moscow. Avram Grant gets the boot and becomes an also ran.
Exhibit B: Scholes disallowed goal at OT against Porto in the CL...Mourinho went on to win the competition and the rest is history. If the officials had done their job then no Mourinho at Chelsea, no Special One etc etc.
Exhibit C: Gerrard scores an OG in the Carling Cup final agianst Chelsea..Mourinho wins his first trophy and off they go winning the league....not 'tactical genius' more a case of hoof it in the box and see what happens...
Exhibit D: The 2nd goal in that game in Istanbul...deflected off a Liverpool hand and should not have stood. If it didnt hit the players hand then prob no goal and no comeback and 'that night in Istanbul' takes on the opposite meaning.
God give me strength.
Garzo CFC
Loving A Cultured Left Foot
Neil - YES!!! I am totally with you. I think I also became a fan due to Giggsy coming onto the scene when I was just getting into football at a young age, myself a Utd fan and being part Welsh and a left-footed left-winger to boot (see what I did there).
Downing has been poor at Liverpool, but he's probably the LAST person who should ever play right wing. It's like playing Ryan Giggs there for christ's sake. He had a good spell at Villa, he was bought to provide crosses for Carroll but neither has hit enough form to cement a place.
Gareth Bale is my dream left-winger, he should have joined Utd to become Giggy's heir.
Props to Adam Johnson for being a good natural left footed inside out winger.
Also - read a book called 'A cultured left foot', it explains the phenomenon.
M Weldon (an Idiot Abroad)
Why It's All RVP's Fault
When I got my first Arsenal season ticket in 1991, we'd just won the league at a canter: mean at the back and having scored a hatful of goals from all over the park. Then we signed Ian Wright - surely the last piece in George Graham's world domination jigsaw. Of course, it didn't pan out that way, and we degenerated quickly, the odd cup run aside, into the one-dimensional team that finished a miserable 12th in his last year in charge. You could, of course, blame any number of things for this - the rigid wage structure that forced George to sell anyone who asked for a pay rise, or perhaps his penchant for buying endless clogging central midfielders.
I blamed Ian Wright. Not for lack of effort or talent or willing or pride, but because his style of play meant that when he was playing, only he could score. He was essentially selfish, always looking for the angle or the half-yard of space or the millisecond of opposition indecision to make a run off a defender. And because he could finish from anywhere, why pass it? But when he played, everyone else's goals - Merson, Campbell, Smith et all - just dried up. A Man U fan told me he felt the same about Van Nistelrooy, whose purple scoring patch coincided with Sir Alex's leanest Premier League spell as manager (one title, one FA cup). In each case, opposition teams knew that if they kept Wright or RVN quiet, they had a chance. Compare that with Arsenal's side of, say, 01/2 or the United side of 99/00 - half a dozen players on each side scored in double figures, so if you marked the hell out of Henry or Cole, chances are someone else would charge through the gaps and score. And because the strikers up front moved the ball quickly, those midfield chargers had an extra fraction of a second to find the space to do so.
RVP is a great player, but he's a selfish striker. Because his touch and control are immaculate, his first instinct on receiving the ball is to try and find space for a shot. Only when there's nothing on will he release it, and by that time defenders are back in position and the chance is often lost. He did this three times on Saturday, and three or four times against Milan. But it's not just this season - it's not a coincidence that Nasri's fine form last season coincided with the more generous Chamakh's stint up front and dried up when RVP returned to the side.
So I say, sell him in the summer. Take the £40m we'll get and thank him for his service, and replace him with a pacy one-touch player who shoots on sight, a tall, hard b**tard who plays well with his back to goal, and someone who can chip in with ten goals from midfield without feeling the need to pass it endlessly sideways 40 yards from goal. Rather that that endure the paralysing negotiation and speculation involved in trying to keep an unhappy player for the umpteenth season in a row.
Chris Baxter
Getting Behind Arsene And Arsenal
Arsenal's display against Sunderland, coming quick on the heels of the woeful performance against Milan, has of course resulted in the sound of knives being sharpened and cries for Wenger's head on a plate in some circles and criticism from such giants of club management as Roy Keane and Emmanuel Petit.
Certainly Arsene Wenger's previous record does not come with a grant of immunity from future criticism or remove the desire on the part of the supporters that the club should continue to compete for honours. Surely, though, what it does come with is an entitlement to some degree of perspective. For example, all we hear about is this seven-year trophy drought; how does that compare to other clubs? Tottenham have won one League Cup in the last 13 years, in 2008. Does that make theirs a better record than ours? They haven't won the FA Cup since 1991 and the league in my lifetime (I'm 47, thanks for asking). Arsenal under M. Wenger have done quite a bit better, I would say, and yet the brickbats are for him, not anyone else. (The only thing Harry Redknapp has won that Arsene Wenger hasn't is a jury trial.)
Going back to Saturday, had Liverpool, say, failed to win at Sunderland then all we would hear is how marvellously Martin O'Neill has done for Sunderland. Only one Premier League team has won at the Stadium of Light since Mr O'Neill took over. Who was that, I wonder?
We have a third of the season still to play. Arsenal have yet again been hit by injuries in a fashion unlike any other team. They join Man United and Man Citeh on the sidelines in the FA Cup and (probably) in the Champions League; they are fourth in the league after a disastrous start. Yes, in all likelihood we will finish without a trophy but this is only disappointing because of Arsene Wenger's record, not in spite of it. The fans need to get behind him and the team and leave the sniping and supercilious remarks to those who seem to have all the answers right up until the moment they are asked to do the job themselves.
Stuart, AFC
...Why is everyone surprised by Arsenal's current form and the depth and quality of the squad?
When Wenger moved Arsenal into a new stadium, every Arsenal fan with half a brain and any journo worth their salt knew that it would very difficult, if not impossible, for Arsenal to continue to compete at the highest level, whilst the costs of building the stadium were being repaid (6-8 years at early estimate).
Why then, only five-and-a-half seasons later, is everyone calling for Wenger's head? Has he not kept Arsenal in the UCL? Have Arsenal not continued to challenge for trophies and at least the top four for the last five-and-a-half years? Has Wenger not managed the club in such a way as to ensure its football philosophy was adhered to, whilst repaying the debts? Are we not in fourth place in the league, at time of writing?
Yes we've lost more this season than in previous seasons and the fans are becoming increasingly frustrated, but it's surely more impressive that Arsene has kept Arsenal at its current level for so long, given the club's current financial position. That's what makes Arsene Wenger a great manager and that's how he will be remembered when he's gone and the club's post-debt profits are ploughed into transfers and wages.
Then they will talk about Arsenal as 'the club that Arsene made' and the current discomfort and agitation will be a distant memory. In the meantime, all Gooners can do is get behind the team, whose confidence must be shot through, and be patient.
Up the Arsenal (UTA). That is all.
Sansomite (it's UTA, not COYG, we're not Sp*rs), Walthamstow
Get Some Perspective, Gunners
And so the Wenger bashing continues. Seriously Arse fans, what on earth is the matter with you??? It looks like it's going to be eight years without a trophy.. Well, boo hoo for you. Why don't you all just throw a hissy fit for only being in fourth place in the league? Can you all not remember the dark old days when you were truly s***e and bored the crap out of everyone?
Not that long ago he was within a brain fart from Clichy, a hissy fit from Gallas and a broken leg away at Birmingham from most likely adding to his league crowns. There are some very good reasons why Arse haven't won anything recently and a lot of them are not Wenger's fault. The other reasons are as follows:
In the mid 90's and early 00's it was United and Arse going toe to toe, then suddenly Abramovich arrived and Chelsea spent loads and mopped up players they didn't even need (see SWP). In the face of that Arse had the new stadium to fund and admittedly fell behind a bit. Liverpool also came to the party for a couple of seasons and now we have the blue gobsh***'s from Manchester.
You're still a good team, just not as good as some others around. So wind your necks in a bit and get some perspective.
Tim (changing your manager will not change your fortunes) Collins
...To Arsenal fans, after kicking out Arsene, then what?
Tumang Bokaba, Gooner in Joburg
Wenger CAN Adapt
I think it's totally unfair that Arsenal fans are bemoaning Wenger's lack of a Plan B.
After all, didn't your last silverware come from parking the bus for 120 mins and hoping to nick it on Penos?
Wenger and his principles, eh?
Marky B. MUFC
Arsenal Are Team Of Wimps
Mark Johnson's email in the Monday morning mailbox suggests that part of the reason for Arsenal's demise is that the players lack character. He also gives the example of none of the Arsenal players offering some sympathy to Oxlade-Chamberlain after the game. However, this isn't a new thing. Arsenal have lacked character for years.
Cast your mind back two years ago to when Aaron Ramsey suffered his horrific injury against Stoke. In the immediate aftermath of the injury the only player to actually go and comfort to Ramsey in his distress was Glenn Whelan, of Stoke. The Arsenal players (with the exception of the much-maligned Bendtner who was the second player to go to Ramsey after Whelan) were all either standing round with hands on their heads trying to hold back the tears, or in the case of Sol Campbell, making some embarrassing attempts at acting like a hardman, and berating the referee.
I'm sure I will get a lot of stick for pointing this out but in a team with character, the captain, or a senior player would go to the stricken player and stay with him until he left the pitch. You certainly wouldn't see Patrick Vieira or Tony Adams standing round trying not to cry. And that in part, is one of the reasons for Arsenal's downfall. They are a team full of wimps and have been for some time.
Peter Beswick, Manc in Spain
It Could Be Worse...
Er, Raul, you do realise that this shambolic Arsenal team is four points ahead of you? We may be bad, but at least we didn't spend around £70m on Downing, Carroll and Henderson.
Jaimie (does beating Brighton at home make you envied throughout Britain now?) Kaffash, Arsenal, London
Give Liverpool Credit Please
I know people might throw their eyes to heaven with this and think, 'great, another Liverpool supporter getting too defensive', but am I the only one who thinks a lot of the reports and coverage of the Liverpool-Brighton game were ridiculously generous towards Brighton? Headlines like 'Liverpool 4-4 Brighton' and BBC's repeated assertion (both on their website and highlights) that the scoreline totally flattered Liverpool are bordering on the absurd. Despite their being 3 own goals (only one of which was unforced), anybody watching that game dispassionately will surely have seen one team destroying another. Ok Brighton came with a good attitude and didn't just park the bus, but all I remember them having were a couple of p***-weak chances in addition to their goal that came out of nowhere and almost nothing in the second half. Liverpool ran riot, especially after the equaliser, and it could've easily been double figures. In short, I don't think Liverpool will dominate a game so absolutely all season.
I guess my point is, while I realise the FA Cup can often mean neutrals cheering for the underdog and hoping to see an upset, it can be a tad annoying when the media's summary and analysis of a game is totally blinkered by this. If Brighton really had matched Liverpool yesterday and given us a run for our money, then the media can lavish praise on them and say they were hard done by all they want, but please don't totally alter the facts looking for an angle for the story. I know when LuaLua's brilliant free-kick went in the press were licking their lips at the prospect of a 'Magic of the Cup' headline, but the truth of it was more 'Liverpool Mercilessly Crush Championship Also-Rans'.
Simon Alkin
Don't Kid Yourselves...We're Average
Raúl H. García...please dont kid yourself and please dont give anymore ammo to our rivals to mock us with. I think we supplied the Mancs with a lifetime's supply since the now infamous handshake-gate affair. Well done!
So to your rather rose-tinted and dare I say knee-jerked email which seemed to be drenched in 'next year is our year' idiocy!
'We are a club on the verge, of becoming yet again, envied throughout Britain and admired in the world.'
Mate, I nearly choked on my lunch when I read that. Thanks. Look at our league form and you will see that we are quite distinctly average (hardly the stuff of envy is it). And please don't let our good cup runs cloud your judgement as they only emphasise a criticism that has been levied agasint us in years gone by that we ar merely a cup team. There's a reason why we haven't won a league since 1990 - we raise our game for the big boys and get complacent when we play the smaller ones. Something which has alluded Utd, much to my annoyance.
Please don't get offended by this, I'm just being realsitic and telling it how I see it!
Mark (loves a traditional English centre-foward by the way) LFC
A Loooooooong Rant About AVB
I'm sorry but I have to politely disagree with Stu from Chiswick and his entreaty to 'stop hounding the manager (AVB) and stop it now. Because those who continue to will get an intelligent and most likely very talented young manager sacked because of narrow-mindedness, impatience and a completely unrealistic expectation of how this team can perform in its current state of flux.'
The problem with Stu's reasoning is that he believes AVB is the right man for the job. I'm not convinced.
Let me first state that I really want him to be successful. I wanted it when he was appointed and I am desperate for it now. The thought of having to go back on the market for a new manager after letting another one go fills me with dread. The problem is that, aside from the antics of the old guard in the Chelsea dressing room, AVB just hasn't shown very much tactical nous or the 'talent' to which Stu refers.
Mourinho's first order of business when he came to Chelsea was to make us incredibly difficult to break down. Especially at home. He created a Fortress Stamford Bridge attitude and it has been sad to see that amazing home record slowly crumble to dust under the stewardship of Mourinho's successors. Jose then repeated this trick to great effect at Inter and now at Real. AVB did not follow suit. Instead, defending seems like an afterthought to him. He abandoned the solid defensive line left to him by Ancelotti and decided to introduce his own 'ideas' about defending. The result: a humiliating and completely deserved loss to Arsenal at the Bridge because AVB wanted to focus on playing the 'high line'. Now it seems pretty obvious to me that the first thing any manager needs to do is figure out and perfect how his team is going to operate defensively before focusing on the attacking threat his side poses.
An attacking threat...it's been so long since I've seen one that I've started to wonder if Chelsea actually ever possessed one? The team look like a collection of individuals and apart from Ramires and Mata (and occasionally Torres) we have no forward drive. There's no plan. No sense that AVB's tactics would win games if the personnel were different. No hint at amazing tactical prowess that would ease many fans fears about AVB's competency for the job. No brilliant substitutions that change the complexion of a game. Instead we just play painfully static football and everything goes through the middle. Brilliant.
Then there's his ability to get performances from the players. Look at how Mourinho snubbed Benzema and then re-admitted him to the team. That's man motivation at its very best. Instead we're relying on players like Sturridge who, while a decent striker, is not world class. Next time you see Chelsea play, just watch how many tackles he pulls out of or his profligacy in front of goal. That being said he's putting the two 'world-class' strikers to shame with his goals tally. That's the problem. AVB's tactic pre-ACON seems to have been 'get it to Drogba and use him as a battering ram' and in the last few weeks his mis-management of Torres is absolutely depressing. Yes he might have lost a yard of pace but look at Henry or Yakubu - they're hardly Usain Bolts themselves but they can still bang in the goals when they get decent service. Decent service is not something which Torres has received under AVB. At all. At times I've waivered over Torres. Is he finished? Can he only perform in a Benitez team? But again and again I see Torres busting a gut for the team and feeding on scraps. Actually, feeding on the scraps of scraps. It was telling that when asked after the game at the weekend if he had any concerns over Torres' performance, AVB said he had 'no concerns over his PHYSICAL performance'. Hardly a glowing endorsement for the low on confidence striker is it? Then again, AVB's man-management skills (another forté of Mourinho) seem sorely lacking. You can't help but feel that a great man-manager like Ferguson or 'Arry would have Torres knocking in goals for fun.
Speaking of baffling man-management decisions, here's another area where AVB falls down. He decided to offload Alex - a capable, dependable and in my opinion underrated centre-back for some bizarre reason. Was it to stamp his authority on the club? If it was then it didn't work and we lost a great centre-back option in the process. Then there's his persistence with Boswinga over Ivanovic. One of these players is a fantastic defender who always gives 100% and is good for the occasional headed goal. The other is Jose Boswinga. A useless waste of space who can't clear the first man with a cross and is a contender for worst player of the season. Or AVB's reliance upon Malouda - a player so far past his prime that he's been outstaying his welcome at the club for a year and a half now. It's pretty clear that AVB is not a peerless man manager in the Mourinho mould but if he was serious about instituting change he'd stick these players into the reserves instead of actual performers like Alex. Or he'd give players like McEachran, Bertrand and Lukaku the chance to step up to the next level. They couldn't be any worse than the rubbish currently occupying the first team.
Don't get me wrong, the belligerence of some of the senior players has not helped AVB's cause but he hasn't helped himself either. Even his arrogant mismanagement of the media in his first few months in the job make me question his ability to lead chance at Chelsea Football Club. Do you think Mourinho would have made that mistake? Mourinho played the media like a drum whereas AVB blamed all and sundry for his own shortcomings. It was terrifically Is it any surprise the feral hacks have put the boot in when AVB's fortunes changed? Can anyone really blame the fans when there doesn't seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel?
I didn't even like Mourinho all that much but I respected him. You knew he was going to stamp his authority on the club and mould it to his ideas. At the moment, it seems the only similarity that Mourinho and AVB possess is that they both managed Porto and won the Portuguese Liga.
Am I wrong?
I'm not convinced.
N O'Reilly
And Now A Slightly Shorter One...
It's pretty clear to all concerned that Andre Villas-Boas had a hell of a tall order in front of him when he took the Chelsea job - an ageing squad, still stuck in a style play that was developed in 2004 (not necessarily a bad thing, it was certainly effective - if a little predictable), several 'big names' in the dressing room that were pretty much untouchable (but unable to produce the form that had done in the past 6-10 years) and of course, the Torres issue.
I'm sure most sane CFC fans recognise that this was always going to take time, and one imagines that Abramovich realises this as well. The squad was filled with players either not good enough or too inconsistent (Ferreira, Bosingwa, Malouda, Mikel), too old to be a realistic long-term solution to any position, but still able (Drogba, Lampard), or simply past their best and, depending on whether they were having an off-day, a complete liability (Cech, Terry). As a United fan, I look at that Chelsea team now and see two, maybe three players who would get in a 'composite XI' (Essien when fit, Mata, Cashley based on Evra's form rather than his own) when four years ago, with the same personnel, I might have said five straight off the bat.
Whilst AVB has seemingly backed Torres where possible (i.e. within reason!), and Luiz pretty hard, it's important to remember that they weren't his signings - it sounds unlikely they were even Ancelotti's. His signings (Romeu, Mata in particular, judgement reserved on Lukaku/Cahill) have performed pretty admirably, and Daniel Sturridge, despite complaining about being played out of position, seems to be coming along rather nicely as well. Villas-Boas has been criticised for not bringing young players through as part of this overhaul - but given the need for immediate results, can you blame him for not wanting to jettison (or even just rest) the likes of Cole/Mikel for Bertrand or McEachran? What good would it do to stick these players into a team not performing well, in terms of development, confidence etc?
If I was Abramovich, I'd make it clear to the entire playing staff that Villas-Boas was going to be at the club for at least the next 2.5 years, so they'd better get used to it. I'd also make it clear to his manager that he will do what is necessary to replace the core of Cech, Terry, Lampard and Drogba (the latter three have arguably cost more than one manager their job) - the latter three would have been shipped out anywhere else, they seem like they're absolutely toxic for any manager at Stamford Bridge.
So in summary, AVB IN, JT, Lamps and Drog OUT.
Jonny, MUFC. Appreciate that this might look like I just want to get rid of the spine of a rival's team - but I can't help that...
Bruce Gets Another Job? Really?
Forget all the talk of how bad Arsenal are and that Wenger and the board need replacing, forget Messi being awesome or that Sunderland were a decent hardworking side made to look good. The biggest scandal in world football is that Steve Bruce is seemingly about to walk into another job, this time at Wolves.
Seriously - what does the bloke do that somehow gets him a job every time? If my CV said I'd been fired from previous jobs for being totally rubbish, I wouldn't get another million-pound contract.
John Matrix
It's Not Brum That Are The Problem
Quick riposte to all the media f***wits who think the only reason Villa fans all hate Alex McLeish is because of who he used to work for: we'd happily bin him for Chris Hughton right now.
Neil Raines
Good On You, Trap
Regarding the news that James McClean has been called up to the Ireland squad, I just wanted to say fair play to you, Giovanni Trappatoni.
After stating last month that no new players would be given a shot, and that the players who qualified for the European Championships would be the ones going, it's great to hear this news today and shows forward thinking. McLean is on fire at present. Three goals and two assists in his last seven league games is cracking form, not to mention the three man of the match performances in there too. Call-up is fully deserved. And all for £350,000...
Can Paddy McCourt be stripped of 'The Derry Pele' moniker, and it be given to McClean please?
Paul, Dublin
