Nurturing to take over poaching in Premier League

It's about time. According to the BBC, Premier League teams have agreed to a system where they must name eight 'home grown' players in their squad of 25.

A home grown player is someone who has played for a club in England or Wales for a minimum of three years between the ages of 16-21. This is fantastic news.

Essentially, it will bring about a system similar to that in place in the Europa League and the Champion's League, where teams must name eight home-grown players, five of whom who must have spent those formative years at the club itself.

Though there are easy ways around this system (you could do a Chelsea and poach 15-to-18 year olds from elsewhere... though that hasn't worked for them in the past), it's a way to both increase the chances for English-and-Welsh born players to play top flight football and a way to stem the ridiculous spending binges of some of the new-money clubs that have pushed their way into the upper echelons of football, without imposing the EU-banned 6+5 player quota discussed last year.

Thoughts on today's Premier League action

I can't think up a better title than that... it's late, cut me some slack.

Anyways:

Burnley 1 - 0 Manchester United

Who the hell saw this coming? But then, it's early days and United haven't quite gelled yet. Seeing Burnley win their first home top-flight match in 33 years was wonderful... but to see them win it against last year's league champions? Fairy tail stuff!
At any rate, positives for United: Michael Owen was decent, he got himself into dangerous positions and was moving the ball around well, but needs to find his scoring touch. Also, the possession tells the story, United were dominant with 63% of the ball, but they just couldn't score (not to say they didn't have their chances, putting 9 shots on goal and missing another 9). Unfortunately, in losing Christiano Ronaldo, they seem to have lost that cutting-edge against teams they should be beating... no one really stepped up today and they really missed that lacquered up pansy.
For Burnley, they have easily the most courageous keeper I've ever seen in their great Dane, Brian Jensen, picking up the man of the match award. Their centre-backs were equally deserving of praise, throwing themselves in front of everything United could give them, and doing their best to get in the way. An inspiring effort from all 11 on the pitch.

Hull 1 - 5 Tottenham Hotspur

6 points from two games. It took Spurs 10 games to reach 6 points last year. Oh... and we're top of the table. I'm not taking a win over a decidedly crap Liverpool and Hull as a sign we'll win the championship, but it's rare you hear the Match Of The Day pundits declare (without laughing) "Tottenham for the title". I choked up a little when they said it, I'm not lying... in 21 years I've never heard that said seriously. Spurs were magnificent today, the passing, the movement, the Jermaine Defoe hat-trick... I'm really excited this year. It seems to be clicking.

Birmingham City 1 - 0 Portsmouth

David James will forever argue the penalty... but he shouldn't have been challenging for the ball in the first place, it was nowhere near the goal. I think the most significant question one can ask from this game is: why has he decided to make himself the most utterly ridiculous-looking footballer in the league (Cissé's in Greece now)? He really looks like some ridiculous 70s pornstar, getting into the habit of grabbing all kinds of stray balls (I'm sorry, this is a family-friendly blog... I couldn't resist though).

Liverpool 4 - 0 Stoke

This result should never have been in question... but last year both matches with Stoke ended with goalless draws... so I suppose Liverpool had reason to be wary (especially after their horrible start to the season at White Hart Lane). Glen Johnson, Liverpool's new right-back fresh from Pompey, might be the most inspired non-Spanish acquisition ever made by Rafa Benitez. In the attacking third of the pitch, he gives Liverpool so many new options, he was hands down their best player today (as he was against Spurs on Sunday).

Oh God why?

Why did we spend a reported £9M on Peter Crouch? Seriously? He has a list of clubs played for about as long as his gangly 6'7" self, and unspectacular numbers at all of them.

That he broke into the England team is still something of a mystery, but then you recognize that he came into the team when Sven was picking players like Theo Walcott to play at a World Cup finals when he'd never played a Premier League match and it starts to make more sense.

Now, the idea of a 6'7" striker (the tallest outfield player in the Premier League, I might add) coming to Spurs would normally make me salivate... but Peter Crouch is effectively useless. He's tall, but he has trouble heading the ball efficiently. And as far as skills-by-foot go, well. See for yourself:

Yeah, that's Crouch. Missing completely (45 second mark). He was in acres of space against Trinidad and Tobago. He was alone, maybe 12 yards from goal. Centered perfectly. Lovely cross from Beckham. Crouch made contact with the ball. It went across the net to go out of play where the 18-yard box starts. Wow.

Now, don't get me wrong - his size does make him useful. He has the ability and length to get to poorly delivered crosses (you saw an example in the video above, about 2 highlights before his epic miss). But, unfortunately, he doesn't have the skill to finish those chances.

Crouch's greatest ability is holding the ball. He is spectacular at holding the ball and allowing others to get into scoring positions. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the skill to distribute the ball well enough to allow those scoring positions to be utilized effectively.

Maybe I'd be happier if this wasn't just our third (and most impressive) signing of the summer. I might also be happier if he didn't cost £9M. Absurd.

I agree, Peter.

Things I learnt while watching Spurs v Barcelona

Last night Spurs played Barcelona as part of the inaugural Wembley Cup. The Barcelona team that played was very much a B-squad, there was no Messi, no Henry, no Puyol -- though Gudjonssen and Touré played.

Anyhow, Spurs drew 1-1. Yay? Mmmm, not as such. I was really disappointed by what I saw on the field, and learned a few things about my team and what they need to do to go forward. Most of them stem from really poor managerial decisions by Harry Redknapp (yes, the same guy I was in love with about 6 months ago).

1. The team needs to be built around Tom Huddlestone, not Wilson Palacios*.
Tom Huddlestone was fantastic last night. He started off in center back (we have three injured CBs... why has Harry not thought about getting another one?) before moving into his more comfortable position of centre midfield in the second half. He was distributing the ball effortlessly, almost every ball he distributed was perfectly weighted, and fell right into the run of whoever he was hitting it to anywhere on the field. It was incredible. Wilson Palacios was the height of useless. Barcelona's goal** was largely his fault (he is number 12, watch him start running the wrong direction giving Touré a path to goal. Who's the only one whose challenge actually landed? My boy Huddlestone).
Turns out, he's not creative at all. He's a battering ram. But not a skillful battering ram -- his positioning is very poor, he's extremely gullible, and he spent most of last night getting in the way than he did doing useful things.

2. Why sell the Welsh international fullbacks and buy Championship ones to replace them?
Chris Gunter - 20 (born '89)
Gareth Bale - 20 (born '89)
Both are full internationals for Wales, Gunter plays right back, Bale plays left back. Both are incredible on the ball. Both are wonderful crossers, and excellent defenders. Bale is one of the best left-footed free kick takers I have ever seen. Both are incredible talents for the future. So Redknapp sells Gunter to Nottingham Forest and wants to sell Bale, citing lack of experience as their main problems. His idea for replacing them? Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker, from Sheffield United.
Kyle Naughton - 20 (born '88)
Kyle Walker - 19 (born '90)
Walker has two matches with the England U19s under his belt, Naughton has played twice with the England U21s. They are not nearly as talented as the two Welsh internationals (Walker only just broke into the Sheffield first team last year)... but apparently they're what Spurs need to fill the lack of experience brought by Bale and Gunter. I had the distinct displeasure of watching Naughton last night - he's disturbingly gullible and made the right flank so unsafe that Corluka (who was playing centreback) wound up leaving the middle open most of the time to cover for Naughton.

3. Jermaine Defoe cannot operate as a lone striker
He just can't do it. The service he was getting was terrible (Huddlestone was playing centreback, remember?), Modric was not playing as an attacking midfielder, but a left winger, and no one was going forward, leaving Defoe with no options. It's not so much the fault of Defoe that he can't do it, it's the inability of the midfielders.

4. Our kids want it more than our seniors
The beauty of friendlies is that there are seven subs, and the halftime switches don't count toward that total. So last night we got to see a lot of Spurs' reserves playing the second half... and they were fantastic. While our seniors were largely standing around while they were playing, waiting for something to develop around them, the kids were on their toes and moving.
making things happen. It's how we wound up scoring (oh yeah, it was a reserve [Livermore, below] who scored our goal).


5. Harry needs to get his head out
Like I said, a lot of the problems right now boil down to Redknapp. Why does he want to buy Viera? Why did he/does he want to get rid of our Welsh internationals? Why have our only purchases this summer been completely unncessary? We have problems at the striker positions, sure. But before Redknapp came in, we were leaking goals but we were also scoring at will. Bring in Redknapp and Les Ferdinand as a striker coach? We stop scoring goals. I don't think it's a problem with the strikers, but their coach. We obviously have holes at centreback, why haven't we bought anyone? We have Huddlestone, but Redknapp wants to sell him. Palacios is useless, but Harry's building the team around him. Oh... and he wants to bring in the greatest has-been of the past decade. What's he doing!?!?!

------
* See the bottom
** I don't know how to mount videos

How the mighty have plummeted uncontrollably

He led Swedish club Gothenburg (I cant do umlauts, so I'm spelling it the English way) to the Swedish treble in 1982; league, league cup and UEFA Cup. He then went to Portuguese club Benfica and won the league, the cup and finished second in the UEFA Cup. After a stint with Roma (where they won the Coppa Italia) he went back to Benfica, to win another league title and finishing second in the European Cup. He then went back to Italy to lead Sampdoria to a Coppa Italia, then won a crapload with Lazio. In 2002, he got the big job: England manager. He managed a stellar record in getting England to major championships, but could never quite pull of big-game wins. He left England in 2006, and took charge of Manchester City in 2007... that ended abruptly (mentioned in this article) . He followed that up with a stint with the Mexican national team... who politely asked him to piss off after one year at the helm. But, our favourite trooper of a Swedish manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson has landed on his feet. Oh yes, he has taken over as director of football at powerhouse club... Nottingham County.

If you're scratching your head trying to work out who Notts County are, don't be discouraged, you're not alone. Eriksson's name is probably the only one on their staff list you're likely to know. But, thanks to a takeover by a Middle Eastern conglomerate (they're taking over everything these days, aren't they? Those Middle Eastern conglomerates!) they can afford a big hitter like Sven. At any rate, Notts County were relegated last season from the First Division (one below the Championship, two below the Premier League) to the Second Division, where they will face stiff competition from Accrington Stanley, Dagenham & Redbridge, Grimsby Town, Port Vale and Rotherham United.

Notts County, whose stadium (Meadow Lane) boasts a mighty capacity of 20,300 (though most of those seats are typically empty), claim to be the oldest team in England, established in 1862... EIGHT years older than Maidenhead United FC! Damn, I thought the oldest team in the country was here. Ah well.

At any rate, Sven's really come a long way from England, hasn't he? At least the supporters of Notts County can count on their team never being picked by ability, but by fame and name. Oh wait... alright maybe Notts' teams will be picked by ability, unless you've heard of, well, any of these guys.

Oh. And Sven plans on taking them to the Premiership. I'm really excited to see how this one goes. Good thing Sven took his trusty right hand man Tord Grip with him as a "General Adviser", maybe he'll be able to keep a grip on reality for his five-year stint at the lowest point of his career before deciding to find a respectable Championship club to align himself to, or just deciding to call it quits altogether.

You've got a lot to ponder there, Sven.

Hello-o-o-o-o-o!

Well... as hiatuses (hiatii?) go, this was one hell of a long one. But we can explain! I promise. I was doing a summer school program at Queen's castle in Herstmonceux (would recommend it to anyone who was pondering doing it), Phil's doing something important and Milway's extremely lazy.


But, I'm done my summer program, Phil remembered that he has opinions on things and Milway's still lazy, but also watching baseball, so this blog should get up and at 'em in short order.

On the docket for the near future:

I'll be talking about The Ashes cricket series between England and Australia (and will go on an Amrit-vs-CBC style rant... except about the BBC!!! DRAMA!), and who knows, maybe I'll delve into the Heatley thing... because that hasn't been done to death. Phil will be writing about the ridiculousness of the transfer window in football lately (non-Premier League too), and Milway might write something too. Who knows.

Anyways, once again - sorry for the extended break. I know all three of our readers have been pulling their hair out for months wondering where we went... well... we went to SchoolTown. Don't hate.

Expect new stuff tomorrow!

PS -- the picture. I typed "back from vacation" into Google Images and that popped up... it was so awesome I couldn't help but use it.

Let's Pop Some Popcorn!

It looks like my Buffalo Bills have signed notorious malcontent Terrell Owens. I am not sure how I feel about this one. The more I think about, though, the more I am liking it.

It's a one year contract for $6.5MM. This means cutting him will not be a huge problem if he steps out of line. He would be the #2 receiver behind Lee Evans. The new depth chart would be Evans and Owens, followed by Roscoe Parrish and Josh Reed in the slot, with James Hardy (if he recovers from a torn ACL) and Steve Johnson as short yardage possession receivers. It automatically makes the Bills offense much scarier. Trent Edwards needs another target, that was clear last season. Especially when teams would double Evans, he had to throw to Josh Reed quite a bit. So now the Bills can roll out Marshawn Lynch early to pound the line and bring the safeties closer to the line of scrimmage, have Evans as a threat over the top, throw in Owens somewhere in the middle, and then Roscoe and Josh hitting the seam. That is a lot for a defense to watch. If the Bills draft a pass-catching TE (probably in the 2nd round with Cook out of Southern Miss) then this offense looks downright frightening.

In my memory, this is the biggest name that the Bills have added via trade or free agency. Maybe Drew Bledsoe is up there, and maybe Doug Flutie, just because of his ties to Toronto. This is a move that the Bills do not make EVER. They do not add the potential clubhouse cancer. But if you look at this team now, it is much improved. Russ Brandon has a done a heck of a job adding pieces like Drayton Florence to replace Jabari Greer and add depth for when (not if) injuries hit and adding Geoff Hangartner to fill that hole at Center.

The AFC East (Buffalo, Miami, NYJ and New England) must be considered the toughest division in football, top to bottom. Last year, the Bills went 0-6 in divisional play, making them an afterthought in this division. Not anymore. Miami is due to regress after overachieving last year. The Jets don't have a QB anymore, unless Kellen Clemens or Brett Ratliff really steps up. The Patriots are the Patriots and will continue to be the presumptive favorites until they are not, if that makes sense. The Bills were stuck in purgatory, but decided to take a shot.

I'm excited as can be and cannot wait for training camp in Rochester, NY this year.

Viva México!

So, I just got back from Mexico and, like an unbelievable geek, I spent a long time watching sports at the resort. You know, between drinking and sitting by pool/beach/bodies-of-water.

Anyways, Mexican football is something totally different. I've never watched Mexican football before, and the style is very different than the game I'm used to.

The central midfielder's role is very different than it is in the European game. Where in the game I'm used to the number 10 is a holding midfielder, responsible for the defensive and offensive side of the game, making runs, distributing passes, all that stuff. In the Mexican (or maybe South American, didn't watch enough of the rest) game, he's got a very different role. There, the number 10 has time to wait, see what happens, and distribute the ball more evenly. Also, he typically doesn't run, and doesn't find himself doing much in the defensive zone on a regular basis.

Also, they've (number 10s) figured out how to make defense unbelievably tricky. Long shots have far more importance. Smashing the ball from around 25 yards on a regular basis if there's no easy or obvious pass. I think it takes something away from the creativity of the game, but obviously it makes defending more difficult because you need to cover strikers, wingers and the long shot... which you typically don't see in the European game.

I say it wouldn't be a bad idea to implement the long shots into the English game - we pride ourselves on power and have been victim to a severe lack of creativity in the past 10-40 years. I say the hell with it, give the ball to Lampard/Gerrard/Carrick/whoever and let them smash the ball from 25 yards and confuse international defenses.

I'm not sure how coherent this post is, I haven't slept in a while - but yeah. Point being: Mexican football interesting, number 10 different role, long shots are awesome, defending is tough.

Last point: this picture is amazing, hopefully a sign of things to come? Mexico + Spurs = long shots and Giovani dos Santos being more used? I bloody hope so.

Most Underrated: Midfielders

Here's the second of three instalments in this series: The midfielders...



Albert Riera (26, Spanish, Liverpool)
A bit of a late bloomer, perhaps, but arguably one of the reasons Liverpool have been maintaining a title push this season. Of four signings made the improve the width of that team this year, he has been the only one to do so. Will never be a regular for Spain but his recent involvement in the team shows that he's gaining admirers.

Esteban Cambiasso (28, Argentinean, Internazionale)
Perhaps one of the most tactically gifted midfielders in the game, the Argentinean midfielder has a fantastic eye for a pass and splendid movement. Not the most glamorous player at Inter and certainly not for Argentina, but he is at his most effective when operating just ahead of the centre circle. His goal against Serbia and Montenegro at the 2006 World Cup shows why a player of his style will always be in demand.

Michael Carrick (27, English, Manchester United)
I go on about Michael Carrick quite a lot on this blog, but I think he is still underrated. He has been very good for England when called upon and his neatness is the difference, for club at least, between 0-0 and 1-0 in tight games away from home. Pauk Hayward, writing in the Guardian today, insists that:

"Carrick is one defence against the entirely rational suspicion that Englishmen will never be able to pass or keep the ball as well as the best Europeans or South Americans."

For that alone we should applaud the lad.

Park Ji-Sung (27, South Korean, Manchester United)
This lad is all energy, but there is more to his game: in the defensively minded formations that won United the Champions League last year, Park Ji-Sung worked tirelessly to deny space and make the difference with limited opportunities. The young Rafael, at right-back, plays best with Park ahead of him - the Korean midfielder being more willing/able to go from one touchline to the other than many of his more fleet-footed Portuguese team mates. The functioning of Manchester United as a unit owes a lot to this man both in the dressing room and on the pitch.

Return of the King

I'm not thrilled about it, in the analytical sense... but as a football supporter I couldn't be more pleased.

Robbie Keane is back, we spent £15m for him. We sold him, of course, for £20.3M. So, good profit and he's back.

Let's break down the Tottenham players who came back after 12 months or less.

Jermaine Defoe
Pacy striker, incredibly useful under the instruction of Harry Redknapp. Pavlyuchenko's greatest skill is providing perfect through balls, he should continue to flourish at Spurs with good service from the midfield.
Good Buy

Robbie Keane
As I said yesterday, I'm fearful of what might happen. I hope he doesn't feel dejected by Liverpool selling him at cut-price, he unfortunately couldn't perform under the instruction of Rafa. What Keane needs is a free role, to move as he pleases around the 18 yard box and be provided service from the midfield, and he'll get that from our current midfield and Redknapp. Like I said above, we still make a little over £5M from the deal, so it all works out.
Good Buy

Pascal Chimbonda
One of the true cancers to the Spurs dressing room last season. He walked out of the Carling Cup final after being substituted. He refused to play center back when asked, even though we had no one else who could play the position. He was the true definition of ass. I'm still not sure why we brought him back, we have two of the most promising right-backs in the Premier League in Vedran Corluka and Chris Gunter... we need help on the left. THE LEFT, 'Arry! I don't understand the point of buying back Chimbo, I hope he isn't as cancerous as he was last season.
Bad Buy

With Wilson Palacios in Tottenham's midfield now (having recently arrived from Wigan), we have a stronger, more creative holding midfielder, finally replacing Michael Carrick.

At any rate, recent developments would suggest we certainly aren't headed for relegation, but I doubt we'll get a Europe spot now.

COYS!

EDIT - Robbie Keane was in fact bought for £12M, making it a nearly £10M profit.

If you can't beat 'em, for the love of God don't let 'em beat you!

I can't believe Tottenham. Honestly, we're horrible. I don't know if any other team has allowed more goals i the last five minutes of a game than Spurs. I also don't know how to find that stat, so we'll just assume I'm right.

At any rate, Spurs went down 2-0 at the Reebok - but then they fought back to 2-2 thanks to some good effort from the team and *sigh* Darren Bent. Who would've thunk it?

But then, four minutes to time, we lost. 3-2. Off a corner. Story's in the books.

Now, the question comes back to "what to do?". I'll tell you what not to do: bring back every former player and their grandmother. Unbelievable. I love Jermaine Defoe and Robbie Keane, I was extremely happy with their play at White Hart Lane and I was horribly sad to see them go. When Chimbonda left - I was excited.

And yet - we've spent far more money than we made trying to bring these guys back. Defoe's been off his game, but he's getting there. That said, it's a slightly different situation - he never wanted to leave and he's coming back to play under his favourite manager. Chimbonda was shite at the Lane, bad for morale, bad for the team. Now - Robbie Keane. His boyhood club was Liverpool. If I were a professional footballer and Spurs offered me the chance to play in North London, I'd be there in a second. Then, if Spurs decided they didn't really want me anymore, and sent me back to the team I came from for half the price they bought me for... well I'd be crushed. And I certainly wouldn't be excited to play. That's what's going to happen if we bring back Robbie Keane, and it's a scary prospect.

Anyways, this is a team that needs to do a few things;
1) Have the mental strength to pull through the last minutes of a match
2) Be smarter than a monkey with a wheel when it comes to transfers
3) FUCKING WIN

Now, in university 'news':
1) Men's basketball played a hell of a game against the Varsity Blues. With a minute and a half left they tied it up. With 17 seconds left they went down by 4 points and the game was lost.
2) Men's hockey had one hell of a weekend - they beat Ryerson and U of T with minimal fuss, though they almost blew it against the Varsity Blues.
3) I've been throwing around ideas for how our football team is going to do next year, and I'm starting to get increasingly excited by our prospects. Maybe we're not going to fall apart next season?

As always, Andrew, Phil and I will be doing Premier League Punditry today at 1:15 p.m. at Sporting Madness, be tharr or be squarr...

Phil's Notebook: Barca, Bargains and Beckham

Following a good reception for my first post in this series, "A few notes from the week", I've decided to make the now-rebranded series, "Phil's Notebook", a regular fixture.

This Piqué-d my interest
Sold back to boyhood club Barcelona by Manchester United for £7million this past summer, Gerard Piqué (22 on Monday) has quietly established himself as a top class defender back in Catalonia, starting regularly alongside Carles Puyol. Gabriel Milito, brought in last year under Frank Rijkaard, cost three times more and failed to make a real impact. Pep Guardiola has managed this team flawlessly.

Bargain buys
Aston Villa winning the signature of Emile Heskey for only £3.5million may be the most decisive transfer of this window. Aston Villa's odds of a top four finish are very, very good at the moment.

Incidentally, Robin van Persie is on his longest injury-free stretch in some time and has quietly found his way back amongst the top two or three strikers (on quality) in the Premier League. He assisted or scored almost every Arsenal goal in January. Having come in the summer of 2004 for £2.75million, he stands out as a bargain worth remembering.

From Blackburn to Olympiakos
Matt Derbyshire, Blackburn's young prospect and perpetual substitute, has gone on loan to Greek side Olympiakos for the rest of the season. Such broadening of footballing horizons will only improve his game and his character. While Matt Derbyshire will probably never be a great footballer, one suspects that England might have lifted a trophy by now if its most promising players (you know the ones) had gained the crucial extra 5% by leaving their narrow English comfort zones.

Everton's 4-6-0
It's only partly accurate to call it that. It's more of a 4-4-1-1 with midfielders Fellaini and Cahill up front. The kind of 4-6-0 pedants like me enjoy involves a bit more fluidity and movement when attacking or regaining possession - something which Everton will probably gain over the coming weeks of playing like this.

Andriy Arshavin
It's quite popular to slag the guy off at the moment, but he does possess a great deal of quality and is a far better player than Roman Pavlyuchenko by most accounts. Arsenal were linked with him about a year before Euro 2008, let's not forget that either. I certainly don't think he's the player we needed most, but he can excel in England and I have a feeling he could make an instant impact.

What to watch for this weekend
If Arsenal fail to win against West Ham and Aston Villa beat Wigan, we can begin to talk about UEFA Cup/Europa League football for the Gunners.

Tottenham travel to Bolton in what must be a relegation six-pointer. I'm hoping Bolton lose.

If David Beckham plays well against Lazio on Sunday, look out for Milan hinting at a permanent deal. The MLS would want £8million, from what I understand.

Real Madrid travel to Numancia - can they close the gap on Barcelona? My feelings about Madrid are well-documented, but they do show extraordinary spirit and the acquisition of Lassana Diarra has been a rare masterstroke on their part.

Premier League Punditry returns on Sunday at Sporting Madness.

Double pivot keeps Giggs evergreen

To say that Manchester United have dominated the Premier League era sounds like a statement of the obvious, but it is important to remember the tremendous potential this team has to reinvent itself. Chelsea were recently beyond all doubt the strongest team in England, but only from 2004 to 2007; Arsenal had this title in their own right between 2001 and 2004. However, with United on track for an unprecedented hat-trick of Premier League titles this season, I look at one small facet of how the team has managed to keep itself evergreen and entrench itself as England's natural champions.

Ryan Giggs, 35, had considered retiring from football at the end of the season, the (formerly) pacy winger being British football's most decorated player. Thanks perhaps a tactical masterstroke by Sir Alex Ferguson (or a pragmatic response to a long injury list) Giggs now stands ahead of United's legions of young central midfielders, with a new contract about to be penned. Why this change?

To pronounce the death of the strict 4-4-2 is now a favourite pastime of football pundits, who prefer to talk about strikerless 4-6-0 formations. The way United lined up against West Brom last night (see diagram) suggests that the "double pivot" aspect of the 4-4-2 formation is still very much alive. The term double pivot is from the Spanish doble pivote, which invokes the shared responsibilities of the central midfielders in a 4-4-2. I have written about the the solid midfield base Michael Carrick provides, a man to whom Ryan Giggs provides the perfect foil: sitting in front of the back four at times, but making runs and key final passes to United's fluid attackers.

Giggs' deep, hard-tackling role in the recent 3-0 win against Chelsea was reminiscent of the Claude Makelele of old. Yesterday he took on a more active role and assisted four goals, frequently breaking forward from deep. Football is a funny old game: an ageing winger can be reborn and inspirational; a traditional formation like the double-pivot can be the innovation a team needs to win a third title in a row.

Super Week

The National Football League season will be completed with one of the more surprising match-ups in Super Bowl XLIII. If someone says they predicted this final, they are lying. No one in their right mind would have picked the Arizona Cardinals to make it to the Super Bowl. Then again, no one last year was saying that the Giants would make the Super Bowl, and then the pundits gave them little to no chance of knocking off the New England Patriots juggernaut.

For the next week, every possible angle of this game will be covered, from Arizona's head coach (Ken Whisenhunt) and his relationship with Pittsburgh QB, Ben Roethlisberger and the rest of the Pittsburgh Steelers, to the possible effect of Larry Fitzgerald Sr. trying to report the game with no bias toward his son, Arizona Wide Receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr. They will be beaten into the ground.

Something that will probably be reported less is the fact that the Arizona Cardinals are doing a "disservice" to college football. The fact that they have made the finals even though they were 9-7 and demolished by 30+ points by an 11-5 New England team that did not make the playoffs is remarkable. In NCAA football, the Bowl Championship Series continues to come under fire, with many colleges (and President Obama) wanting the system to become a real playoff with a bracket and a single, unopposed champion. If Arizona pulls this out, it shows that playoffs do not work. College football is so competitive that every week there is an important game. USC being upset by Oregon State effectively ended their title run in October. This year especially in the NFL proved that the regular season means nothing. So what if the Titans and the Giants were the two best teams? Making he college system into a 4 or 8 team playoff would cheapen the regular season, and the college football regular season is a simply stunning masterpiece every year. The BCS may not work 100% of the time, but I would not trade it for something like the NFL system.

A couple of other things to watch for:

• Larry Fitzgerald has emerged as one of best WRs in these playoffs. It is a wonder that he is not being triple or quadruple teamed.
  
• Anquan Boldin and his announced intention to become a free agent after his contract runs out...in 3 years time. Only in the NFL does this happen.
• Pittsburgh Head Coach Mike Tomlin being mistaken for Omar Epps (seriously, they look the exact same)
• No Joe Buck doing the announcing. Seriously, he is terrible.
• Watching for which player will do something stupid the night before the game, like Nick Collins being stabbed in the knee by his wife before a playoff game 2 or 3 years back (Colts vs. Steelers), or Atlanta S Eugene Robinson offering $70 to an undercover police officer for oral sex and then getting burned the next day on two long plays. My money is it being Edgerrin James, RB for the Cardinals.

I'm not sure if my bias is showing, but I really really want the Cards to pull this one out because I hate the Steelers for the various things they have done to the Bills (namely the season finale of 2004, where the Bills needed to win to get into the playoffs and lost to the Steelers 2nd and 3rd stringers. That was a painful season). I think they can pull it out if they can establish the run early, get 2 or 3 great plays by Fitzgerald (entirely possible) and force turnovers on defense (which they have been doing all playoffs). I am most certainly in the minority, but I don't care, I really really hate the Steelers.

It should, however, be a fun game to watch no matter who wins.

Kaka's future

Ramon Calderon stepped down as president of Real Madrid this week after a vote-rigging scandal was uncovered by (surprisingly) Real Madrid's mouthpiece newspaper Marca. Florentino Perez, who signed the galacticos Zidane, Beckham, Ronaldo etc. during his previous stint as president, is favourite to win the next elections scheduled for the summer.



This impacts Kaka's future to a great extent. Personally, I believe Perez will pick up from where he left off and sign another massive player (not Viduka massive, Kaka massive) and Real are certainly corrupt enough to weather the financial storm and afford it. Silvio Berlusconi has indicated a desire to do business for Kaka regardless of his public statements, and Milan certainly need the money if they are to reverse their slide. A Perez presidency would likely see a curt goodbye for Juande Ramos as well, with Jose Mourinho perhaps taking over after his rough time at Inter. That would lure Kaka far more than the promise of millions.

Many have praised Kaka for not being lured by Manchester City's money but it has more to do with their sporting plan than his principles. The boy wants success more than money, and a move to Real Madrid may be on the cards for a sum hilariously close to what City offered Milan just last week.

All this will be orchestrated by a Real Madrid president who, as is required by the club's rules, will have stumped up €60million of his own money as a deposit just to stand for the club presidency.

While Real Madrid may be a spectacularly poorly-run club at times, having a patch indicating 9 Champions Leagues on the sleeves of their jerseys (and a chairman whose dreams are achievable) continues to be a great pull.

A few notes from the week

I know the week isn't over yet...but...

FA Cup
Bayern Munich (in a tight title race), Barcelona (59 goals in 19 games) and AC Milan (Kaka? Beckham? Pato?) will be in league action this weekend, but why would anyone want to watch such small clubs, arrivistes if you will, when there's Watford on the telly? That's right, the FA Cup is back.

Live blogging
Premier League Punditry, our weekly live blog at Sporting Madness went rather well in its inaugural instalment. Amrit and Andrew will be liveblogging Manchester United's 7-7 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup this Saturday, so don't miss it.

Willy Sagnol
Bayern Munich and France right-back Willy Sagnol looks set to retire from football imminently, in large part due to an Achilles' tendon inj...WHO CARES?

Tactical nous lacking
On a tactical note - Jose Mourinho "organised" Inter in 4-3-3, 4-3-1-2 and 4-4-2 formations during the 3-1 defeat to Atalanta last weekend, perhaps as some bizarre tribute to each of the goals they conceded. La Repubblica later overheard Mourinho telling his squad "sei una squadra de merda" - "you're a shit team". I've been saying that for about seven years now, let me manage them.

Don't mess with the Yoann
Yoann Gourcuff, quite possibly the best French player at the moment, is having the time of his life on loan at Bordeaux from AC Milan. Having never broken into the squad at the San Siro, he's lived up to his title as the "new Zidane" better than others such as Samir Nasri and Hatem Ben Arfa ever have. The best part of it? AC Milan cared so little for him this summer that they gave Bordeaux first option to buy him for a pre-agreed €13million fee. Considering the fact that I (and Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United) rate him at around €20-25million at the moment, I suspect the suits in Milan are kicking themselves. With lovely Armani shoes, mind you.


Transfer highs and lows
Best of the week: Wilson Palacios to Tottenham Hotspur (£14million, finally a Carrick replacement!)
Clanger of the week: Nigel de Jong to Manchester City (£19million, contract clause meant he would have cost only £2million in the summer)

Another not-real post

Hey guys!

So, sorry for the recent complete lackage of real posts. There'll be some stuff coming up about how every team I support is completely awful, but that's for later. Busy times, really.

At any rate, this is a heads up about two more upcoming live blogs.

On Saturday, Andrew and I will be liveblogging Manchester United v Tottenham, a match will (potentially hopefully not) foreshadow the upcoming Carling Cup final. That will be at Sporting Madness. Kickoff is (I think) at 12:30, so we'll get started around that point sometime.

Then, on Sunday, as always, Phil and I will be joining Andrew at Sporting Madness for Premier League Punditry at 1:30.

Like I said, real posts will be coming soon, I promise!

Upcoming liveblog!

As I said in the long preamble to our list of why 2008 was memorable, we will finally be taking part in a liveblog.

Yes, you heard right.

Tomorrow, around 1:30pm, Phil and myself will be joining Andrew at Sporting Madness for a roundtable called "Premier League Punditry" on this weekend's Premier League matches, and will be discussing this week's happenings in the world of football.

Like I said - 1:30 pm, at Sporting Madness.

Hope to see you there!

Paul Ince and the fallacy of the Young English Manager

Paul Ince, one of England's finest international players and the archetypal English #8, was sacked as manager of Blackburn Rovers this morning after less than six months in the job. Blackburn Rovers' board, in a press statement, made it clear that the former Macclesfield and MK Dons boss could not, in their opinion, revive the team to face a real relegation battle.

In a Premier League whose lower half tends to resemble a black hole as early as December, safety first was the approach. Various voices have clamoured for more time for this 'Young English Manager', simply to keep alive the fragile idea that this archetype somehow means 'good manager'. Ince did himself no favours, but he was also far out of his depth.

In buying Keith Andrews from the lower leagues, a Robbie Fowler whose best years were not even in the 21st century, and Paul Robinson (no explanation required), Ince failed to replicate his predecessor Mark Hughes' highly successful transfer policy. Letting keeper Brad Friedel go to Aston Villa has not only solidified that club's fortunes but dealt a cruel blow to Rovers. To be fair, the injuries to Steven Reid and David Dunn were cruel to an already weak squad, but the headline writers have rightfully overlooked this fact. They know, like we do, that it wouldn't have made much difference.

Mark Hughes' Blackburn was tough, inspired by a strong yet amazingly fair manager who gave the team a sense of solidity and purpose. They were hard to play against and their best players performed consistently. The captures of Roque Santa Cruz and Benni McCarthy stand out as some of the best, yet less than £7mil was spent securing their services. Ince, operating under the same financial constraints, failed to make an impact. The departure of David Bentley itself was probably the death blow, and the fact that almost half the fee went straight into Arsene Wenger's pocket thanks to some cheeky sell-on clauses only adds insult to injury.

The idea that a good player makes a good manager is patently false, let that be very clear. I know that all Premier League chairmen have this blog on Google Reader, so my words are not in vain. Ferguson, Wenger and Benitez are all smart outside of football. They live and breathe the sport but command respect from players and fans for their smarts. Not for their shouts, as one would suspect was the case for Roy Keane and Paul Ince, not coincidentally the first managers to get the sack this season. Pep Guardiola, overseeing perhaps the best Barcelona team of the last ten years, was a fantastic midfielder but his superb mangerial acumen comes from years of grassroots football in the Barcelona B and C teams.

Not many of the managers floating around the world right now can fix Blackburn's problem, if it can be fixed at all without an injection of cash. I hate to say it, but Avram Grant is one of the best yet overlooked candidates for the job. His reputation for defensive football may be welcome at a club so demoralised that solid central defenders like Ryan Nelsen and Christopher Samba are humiliated by pisspoor strikers latching onto speculative crosses.

But don't expect any sense from a Premier League chairman in his managerial appointments. Their job is to make the league interesting by picking managers from all categories, from 'Young English Manager' to 'Old-School English Journeyman Manager', rather than get the man for the job.

Waving adieu to the legend that wasn't

Portsmouth: 1990-1992
Tottenham Hotspur: 1992-2004
Birmingham City: 2004-2005
Wolerhampton: 2005-2006
Bournemouth: 2006-2008

Darren Anderton will, to me, always be remembered as a legend of the Lane. For 12 years, he donned the Lilywhite, and wore the captain's armband for many of his latter years there.

When healthy he was one of the best right wingers to play the game, called up numerous times to the England squad and holding his own on the legendary Spurs side that contained Klinssman, Gasgoine and Sheringham. At Spurs, he played in 364 matches and notched 51 goals. His career was, unfortunately, marred by injury, and a series of (poorly timed) injuries left him with the nickname Sicknote Anderton. Injuries forced him out of various seasons and at least 2 England campaigns that I can remember off the top of my head.

That said, he was fiercely loyal to Spurs, turning down a move to Manchester United in 1995 and even promised a new contract at the end of 2004, a promise that was reneged at the authority of incoming 2-month disaster manager Jacques Santini.

Unfortunately, Anderton will finally end his career in Bournemouth this coming Saturday at the age of 36. A career that, according to Harry Redknapp could be extended were he "surrounded by the right players."

Lord knows I'd love to see Anderton come back to the Lane, maybe not as a player (given the speed Spurs now plays at), but as a coach or public liason or somesuch. If nothing else, I know the Yid Army would love to see him back.

His name may not carry the same weight as some of the footballers who donned the Lilywhite before him, but as far as a loyal footballer goes - it would be tough to find a comparison. And, again, who knows where he'd be if he managed to stay healthy? C'est la vie. I just know that I still have the Darren Anderton action figure in my room from my childhood days, and he'll always be one of the first names that comes to mind whenever someone asks me my memories of Spurs in my youth.