Give footballers a chance to shine !

The last couple of days have seen tragic events occur in the country;s capital and across the United Kingdom. The sheer thought of the riots prolonging even further brings a shudder to each citizen . Young men and women have vandalised public properties and shops resulting in a monumental expense to the taxpayer.However what can the government do to stem the tide of these outrageous attacks happening ? 

Theses despicable individuals often are bored and resort to these actions to "entertain themselves". They grow up idolising their sports superstar. A large number of footballers have had a hard upbringing . Rio Ferdinand, Luka Modric and Robson de Souza (Robinho) to name a few. They could be used by the English government as a catalyst to reach to these young people. 

Ferdinand had a good upbringing and was a happy child but he also had to learn to live without luxuries in low-income Peckham, a district of London where almost half the population are categorised as poor or borderline poor. Violent crime was a common occurrence in the area he lived. However, he largely avoided the darker sides of the neighbourhood.

Footballers receive a huge proportion of negative publicity. "The salaries are too high" ."They stagger out of nightclubs in the early hours of the morning/" "They're not respectable role models for children.'' These are a few of the negative comments which are associated with footballers. 

However they should be given a chance to turn this image around. Rio Ferdinand and others could make an appeal to stop these riots. He has done so in the past when appealing in a murder case, why can't he and others do the same now ? After all what are the chances of these misguided individuals listening to the individuals in the black suits of the FA ?

The Community Shield- Manchester City vs Manchester United

 "Looking forward to game today. No such thing as friendly against city. We want to win." This was reeled off by Wayne Rooney when giving his prematch thoughts prior to the Community shield. 


“Whenever you are wearing the sky Blue shirt and playing against United, whether it is a under 15s game, an under 18s game or an FA Cup Semi Final , there is a special edge to it,”


The Community Shield is normally billed as a curtain raiser, a showpiece even for charity. However Rooney's quotes and events on the pitch displayed otherwise. 


Manchester United started the match in superb rhythm . Immediately pushing City back, defending from the front, hustling Manchester City. This performance was very similar to those of Barcelona's, Manchester United pressured City into mistakes. David Silva was marked out of the game for the first twenty minutes, the towering Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli conquered by the defensive pair of  Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand. 



United were slick and precise in the opening stages however for all their dominance they failed to seriously test Joe Hart.


City, in contrast, were lethargic in every area of the pitch and their main contribution in the first half-hour was to keep referee Phil Dowd busy, with Micah Richards among four of their players booked early on, in his case for a wild lunge on Young.


However eight  lightning minutes, Manchester City turned the game on its head. James Milner surging run was halted by Patrice Evra on the edge of the box. David Silva who until then had been uncharacteristically quite much due to the brilliance of the United defence swung in a beautiful cross for Jolean Lescott to nod into the net. 


Questions will be asked over David De Gea. The young spaniard had an opportunity to command his area and catch the ball however he decided not to and that enable Jolean Lescott to glance in a header. 


United were hard done by but one cannot appreciate Manchester City's brute strength in midfield. Rio Ferdinand was also to blame for letting Lescott to head the ball in the first place.


Eight minuted later Edin Dzeko found space an struck a thundering shot past David De Gea. Nemanja Vidic allowed Dzeko far too much space which was gleefully accepted. Once again De Gea should have stopped it, reacting late to the 25 yard bullet which was not placed in the corner of the net. 


United were shellshocked they were the far superior team however they were trudging into the tunnel two goals down.  The blue moon rose, sadly for City fan's it was eclipsed by United "winning mentality". The phrase that so many managers place an importance on. The Red Devils never give in, every United player when they give an interview always state the word "believe" . Nani summed it up by saying this. "“This is United – we always believe until the last minute,”. 


Ferguson sent on new signing Phil Jones and Jonny Evans to replace Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic at the back, and introducing Tom Cleverley into his midfield. The transformation was clearly visible. 
Cleverly who has a bright future ahead of him injected pace and forward movement into United's midfield.  noticeabale difference between Carrick's who was substituted and Cleverly is that Carrick's passes the ball and is stagnant whereas Cleverly passes and moves. 


United picked up where they left off in the first half in the ascendency. Smalling reduced the deficit from close range when Young's free-kick evaded Lescott and, six minutes later, Nani levelled when he rounded off a quick-fire passing move involving Rooney and Cleverley.


United were knocking at City's door time and time again however credit to City they held firm. Kompany marshalled his defence well until the dying mininutes of the match. Dzeko missed a golden chance to win the match but he missed his header, the ball fell to Rooney who hooked the ball forward. It bounced just before Kompany and Clichy they both hesitated allowing the superb Nani to nip the ball past Kompany and around Joe Hart to send the United fans in into ecstasy. 


A new United but the same old story. Manchester United win the Charity Shield belting out a clear message to their rivals, that they are well and truly up for the fight. 

Do Changes Really Bring Success ?

With the odd 'this is our year' mail making an appearance, and John Henry coming out with a sensible assessment of his club's chances, I wanted to ask: How often does a team win silverware - specifically the Premier League - when they have just bought in a load of new players? A few Arsenal fans have said that they need to buy a whole raft of players in order to challenge for the title, but does this work in reality? Blackburn and Chelsea are accused of 'buying the league', but I am interested as to how many players in those teams were bought in in their title-winning years, and how many were already established (I genuinely don't know the answer). As I've been writing, what started as an open question has turned into a mini season preview:

- City brought in shed loads of new players over the last three seasons, and yet they have only won the FA Cup. However, they also had a settled spine of the team last year, and it's really this year that they are looking dangerous - and they would do even if they hadn't brought in Aguero. As the players have settled in to their group, and as the manager has been given some time, they seem to actually be playing like a team, and working well together as a unit.

- Liverpool rang the changes last year, and did the same this year - so I think realistically that it's next year that they should be looking at for success - although obviously, targeting that CL place is a must, if they are going to make progress. I wouldn't have them as anything other than an outside bet to do it, though - despite them looking as strong as Arsenal in many ways, even before Cesc goes.

- Arsenal I think they are facing major problems - unless they can hold on to Cesc, and add a squad defender to cover injuries, I don't think they will be challenging this year - and even if they brought in fantastic quality with the Fabregas money, they wouldn't be contenders this season, as it will take time for new additions to bed in - and then they will lose Nasri next year, so things look bleak.

- Chelsea have a new manager, but the playing staff looks like it won't change much. Their key man is Torres - if he settles early, if he starts to bang them in, then Ramires, Luiz etc will do at least as well as they did last year, and the squad have the quality to carry the manager while he's finding his feet. However, if the £50m man becomes the albatross round Villas Boas's neck, then the pressure from fans and Abramovic will kill their chances of lifting the Premier League trophy this year.

- Manchester United's squad actually looks relatively unchanged - despite the numbers of names coming in and out, most of the departees were playing one game in two, at the most. Outfield, only Ashley Young will be expected to start regularly, so the squad will be more or less unchanged. United's season rests on one of their new goalkeepers making the gloves their own early on, and getting the defence working with them. If they can do that, they will be in the race till the end.

I really think that City will be the biggest challengers for United's title this season. It's going to be exciting.

Time for a superstar ?

In other areas we have mostly everything that is needed to take the prize of being the best league. The play is fast, furious and physical without being plagued as much as La Liga in terms of play-acting. The rivalries are fierce and our teams often do well in Europe and this standard of quality runs through to sides that even battle relegation (see Blackpool). Yet, it seems again there are few big stars who want to join us and revel in what is surely the best balance of overall football and without doubt the best atmosphere in any league in any country. 

Lets trace back the years: Ronaldo was our superstar back in 2008, the best player in the world, Henry ruled 2003-2005 alongside the magical Bergkamp, Beckham was an overrated yet wonderful talent known throughout the world and everyone's Mr Nice, the electric Zola, lit up our screens. Let's not forget Marcel Desailly or throughout the 90's Cantona, with Klinsmann joining for a few seasons and Pires and Peter Schemichel also being characters in our game. Lets not forget Di Canio, either. 

What has changed? Why can our country no longer attract the talent it once used to and why have we now got the hated Rooney, or want-away Fabregas as the face of our league. Giggs image is out the window and Torres hasn't been producing the gorgeous displays that we all know he can do for at least a year. Again, Kaka did not sign for City when they offered 100 million +, just as Ronaldo wanted out to play for his 'dream club', despite the fact that they were nowhere near reaching European finals or even having domestic success. Ronaldinho, a brilliantly attacking player chose the mundane Italian league aswell as Eto'o, Sneijder and perhaps Tevez will be added to that list now his Corinthians move has collapsed.

We can also comfort ourselves with the notion that these players haven't fitted in right at their respective clubs or they are homesick, or of course that we 'hated them all anyway'. Yet, the more annoying and even shocking truth is that the inability of England to attract a superstar (even Neymar and Aguero want Madrid) may simply tell us that a move abroad is a much more attractive prospect than rainy, physical, boring old England. Even if it poses no danger to the brilliance of our league, it would be nice to have a player that we either love or hate, yet all appreciate for their genuine football talent.

Will Sneijder be the new Veron ?

Sneijder could become  a luxury player like Veron and would take a position that would unbalance the team , i.e. It would mean one less forward or one less central midfielder.

If Ferguson elects a 4-3-3, his problems is the wide men in the 3 attackers are wingers not forwards like Inter Milan play (Eto'o, Pandev, etc.) so will not get into the box as much to support Rooney. It works well for Chelsea as they have Lampard always getting into the box to support, but Sneijder does not do this. He plays in the space between te centre circle and the 18 yard box.

If Ferguson plays 4-5-1 currently he has Park busting a gut to support Rooney. With Sneijder he would have zero players getting into the box with him. A bit like when United played Veron.

This problem can also be seen at Spurs where the introduction of Rafa Van Der Vaart seriously disturbed the balance of that team. Afterall, they had four international strikers (not including Van Der Vart) and a creative midfield of Modric, Bale and Lennon and yet the strikers could not score. It says to me that Vanv Der Vart unbalanced the team by reducing the actual amount of targets the creative players had to find.

The only attacking midfielder that has played that role well was Steven Gerrard and I think that was mainly due to his athleticism at bursting into the box ( something both VdV and Sneijder do not have), Torres needing two markers and having Xabi Alonso and Mascherano behind providing the defensive shield. (Do Carrick, Giggs and Anderson really do that?).

Ferguson has always played wingers so If he plays 4-4-2 (his preferred formation) then Sneijder will be the attacking central midfield. United do not have a Roy Keane to fill the space produced, so United may get overrun against teams playing 4-5-1 as Sneijder does not do defence.



However, Sneijder may be a success. He could sit in Scholes role, pinging balls through to Hernandez. One cannot question his CV for sure, with the likes of Real Madrid, Inter Milan lined up,and participated in  a world cup final and  european cup final he sure has the big game experience. 


This is all assuming a certain Massimo Moratti at Inter Milan agrees a fee with Manchester United. 

Transfer Window Frenzy !

The transfer window is well and truly underway. Football fans are sparked into a frenzy of excitement, commence hours of debates in pubs and forums on the latest player their club is linked with.

Manchester United have set alight the English Transfer windows with signings of Ashley Young,David De Gea and Phil Jones. Sir Alex Ferguson has begun the rebuilding of his side who has won its astonishing 19th Premier league title, overtaking Liverpool on 18.

The players purchased are youthful and exuberant but the question remains are they talented enough to battle against Europe's finest ? One might say Sir Alex's side were already competing against the finest prior to the signings so with the addition of the new players, they must be stronger ? For all the players linked with Manchester United, there have been some departures, loyal servants John O'shea a fans favourite and Wes Brown have been moved on to Sunderland to join Steve Bruce, while the stellar Edwin Van Der Sar ,passionate Gary Neville and the "radar" Paul Scholes have retired.

Arsenal fans so far have had a horrid transfer window; the persistent rumours of Cesc Fabregas still exist, will he or won't he ? Is the question on Arsenal fans lips. So far it seems as if he will leave, to strengthen the supreme Barcelona side.  Another Arsenal player future also hangs in the balance, Samir Nasri.  Is he  refusing to sign a contract and flirting with Manchester United to achieve a bump in his salary ? Or does he really want to win trophies and not just using it as an excuse to leave Arsenal?  He's been linked with Manchester City who's name appears with every transfer saga in the world.

Chelsea have had a relatively quiet transfer window so far; all the focus has been on who would be their 7th manager in six years. The lucrative job has been acquired by Andre Villas Boas, the Portuguese tactician has drawn comparisons with a former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. However Villas Boas decided to reflect comparisons and named himself the "Group One" .  Chelsea have been repeatedly linked with Neymar, the flamboyant striker from Santos, Falcao from Porto and Roman Lukaku from Anderlecht. These transfer seem still in the pipeline. With Andre Villas Boas settled in his managerial position, and Roman Abramovich heavy financial backing. The future weeks for Chelsea fans seem very interesting indeed. 


Liverpool under the leadership of Kenny Daglish have been rejuvenated. With the deadly strikeforce of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll , one cannot rule Liverpool out as contender for the league in the upcoming season.  The acquisition of Jordan Henderson solidifies the Liverpool midfield. The club missed out on Ashley Young and Phil Jones but have strongly been linked with Stewart Downing. Aston Villa have strongly dismissed any notion of the club selling.