Monthly Archives: March 2011

The Vital 2 Players Spurs Must Sign

Leave a reply

Tottenham, as ‘Appy ‘Arry Redknapp hasn’t been shy of telling us over the course of this term, have been competitive at the right end of the Premier League table this season. However, despite the impressive run to the Champions League quarter-finals and the ongoing battle for 4th place in the Premier League, you can’t help but feel that Spurs are just one or two players away from actually putting up a genuine fight for the league title.

Nobody could deny that Tottenham have acquitted themselves admirably in the Champions League, in the club’s first foray into Europe’s premier club competition since 1961/2, they have surprised everyone by not only topping a group that included reigning European champions, Inter, but by then knocking out current leaders of Serie A, AC Milan in the second round. The problem for Spurs has been maintaining momentum in the Premier League.

Redknapp’s men are currently in 5th place, just 4 points behind Manchester City, with a game in hand, and it seems the battle for 4th between the Londoners and the Mancunians will go to the wire as it did last season. But Tottenham could, and perhaps should at this stage, have been comfortably in the Champions League places and looking ahead to the battle for 1st, if they had earned better results in recent games against Wolves (Draw), Blackpool (Loss) and West Ham (Draw).

Another 4th placed finish will be great for Spurs, especially considering money-bags Man City’s superior resources, but to make that next step to becoming title contenders, Spurs need to tweak their squad slightly, with a couple of choice additions. It’s well established that Spurs’ strikers have, in the Premier League, under-performed this season, with just 11 goals between them and while the signing of creative maestro Rafael Van der Vaart has, in its own way, perhaps made things more difficult for the strikers, with Redknapp adopting a 4-5-1 system earlier in the season, this is no real excuse for the forwards’ profligacy.

Equally, there have been overt problems at centre-back for Tottenham this season. Spurs have, for large parts of this season, seen an inconsistent selection in the centre-half pairing. On paper, Spurs have great options in central defense, with Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate, William Gallas, Michael Dawson, Sebastien Bassong and Younes Kaboul to call on; but in practice, injuries to Woodgate, King, Kaboul and Dawson, and Redknapp’s lack of confidence in Bassong have made centre-back something of a problem position for Tottenham. As Spurs cannot rely on the fitness of a large proportion of their central defenders, it must be a priority to bring in a top quality centre-back to try and add reliability and consistency to the back line.

So, here they are, the two players I think could give Tottenham that extra edge and push Spurs towards a genuine attack on the Premier League title in 2011/12.

Edinson Cavani – Striker – Palermo (on loan at Napoli) – 24 years of age – 23 caps for Uruguay

Cavani is a Uruguayan goal-scoring machine who has notched 22 goals in 30 Serie A appearances this season. Blessed with shooting ability in both feet and a keen eye for goal, Cavani is also a mobile striker whose positional sense would fit perfectly with the flowing, precise football that Tottenham play (when Crouch isn’t in the team).

At 24, Cavani has the right blend of youth and experience and the thought of a natural goal-scorer like him playing off passes from Tottenham’s creative and attacking midfield is one that most Spurs fans would relish. Tottenham have already made clear that for the right striker, they are willing to pay big money (the bid for Rossi in January was for over £20m), so the high fee, expected to be around £20million, should not be a stumbling block.

Per Mertesacker – Centre-Back – Werder Bremen – 26 years of age – 73 caps for Germany

Mertesacker’s contract with Bremen is up in 2012, so the German outfit are looking to cash in on the giant centre-back this summer while they can still command a decent transfer fee. Spurs would have to pay around £8.5million, but this would certainly not be a problem for ‘Dynamite’ Daniel Levy.

The commanding centre-back, who at just 26 has already won 73 caps for Germany since making his debut in 2004, has been with Bremen for 5 years. He is a solid, dependable and assured centre-half, with an excellent goal-scoring record for a defender (around 1 goal every 10/11 games) and a great deal of experience on the highest stage (he has played in the Champions League, as well as World Cups 2006 and 2010 and the 2008 European Championships).

I appreciate that some people will be suspect of the fact that neither of these players has played in England before, and this is a valid concern, such signings always carry that element of risk, but to me, the quality and experience of these players suggests, at the very least, that will not be over-awed by the Premier League or its fast and physical style. Equally, Cavani does not have Champions League experience, but his performances (49 goals in 99 games in the last 3 seasons) in one of the best leagues in the world against teams considered to be experts in defensive play are surely proof enough of his quality.

Other options are, of course, available from England and abroad and it may well turn out that Harry Redknapp doesn’t consider either of these players as suitable recruits for Spurs, but in my opinion the addition of these two internationals to Tottenham’s starting line-up would provide them with an added guile and all-round quality in the shape of Cavani and an assured, reliable and experienced defender in Mertesacker, who together could help the club move forward in 2012.

The Football Diaries’ European Stat Attack

Leave a reply

With a week of entertaining, surprising and extraordinary games for the English teams in Europe behind us, it’s time to get out your trainspotter’s pad, don that kagoul and get your nerd on – it’s the Football Diaries’ much-anticipated, widely-admired and utterly essential European Stat Attack.

AC Milan 0-0 TOTTENHAM

Sandro won all eight of the tackles that he attempted vs Milan on Wednesday. Only four players have won more in a CL game this term.

The stat above is representative of the excellent progress being made by Brazil’s former Under-20 captain Sandro at Tottenham. Having only arrived in England in September, the strong midfielder has shown real class and defensive astuteness in the games against Milan. His form is such that Tom Huddlestone will have a real battle on his hands to reclaim his place when he returns from his long lay-off.

Tottenham Hotspur have never lost at home in the Champions League/European Cup (including qualifiers), winning seven times and drawing twice.

‘Arry’s Spurs have an excellent record at home in the Champions League and it’s no surprise when you consider Tottenham’s all-time results in Europe’s top club competition.  Indeed, in all European competition Spurs have played 70 games at White Hart Lane, won 54 and only lost 3. Still, if Barcelona come calling in the quarter-finals, I doubt they’ll be too worried about that.

Barcelona 3-1 ARSENAL

Since Opta started analysing all Champions League games in 2003, Arsenal are the only team ever to record zero shots in a match.

Deary me, what a night for Arsenal fans. Despite the Gooners drawing 1-1 at one stage, and going through on aggregate at that point, Wenger’s men failed to have any shots on target. It summed up their night that it took a Barcelona own-goal by Sergio Busquets to allow Arsenal back into the game on 53 minutes, but some mesmerising play, a dodgy decision and two goals later – Arsenal were out 4-3.

Arsenal made 119 passes on Tuesday; compared to a total of 724 by Barcelona.

The pre-eminence of Barcelona on the European football scene is succinctly demonstrated in this stat. Against a team vying for the Premier League title with a reputation for classy, flowing football that can tear teams apart, Barcelona were completely and utterly dominant. For all of Wenger’s excuses about a dodgy sending off, Arsenal deserved nothing from a game in which the top 10 passers all played in blue and red. Who can stop the Catalonian juggernaut?

SC Braga 1-0 LIVERPOOL

Excl. qualifiers, Braga have won all 5 of the European games they’ve scored in this term, keeping a clean sheet each time.

While many in England took for granted a positive result for Liverpool in their match against unfancied Braga of Portugal, the stats backed the Portuguese side, who finished 2nd in last season’s Primeira Liga. It probably benefited Braga that they are largely an unknown quantity and their supposedly shock win against Dalglish’s Reds sets up an interesting return leg inLiverpool.

Liverpool have conceded just 5 goals in 13 European matches this term (including qualifiers).

It’s not all doom an gloom for Kopites though, their own record in Europe this season, while not sensational, had been built on a very solid defense. Conceding only just over 1 goal every 3 games, King Kenny’s side will fancy their chances of over-turning their first leg deficit at Anfield, with a new strike-force ready to punish any Portuguese errors.

Dynamo Kiev 2-0 MANCHESTER CITY

Man City have now only won 1 of their last 9 European away games (excluding qualifiers).

Although the conditions in Kiev, it was -6ºC, won’t have suited City, particularly their newly-shorn snood squad, they will have hoped for better than a 2-0 loss to the Ukrainian giants. However, when you look at the stats, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that Mancini’s men failed to get a result; City’s results in Europe away from home will need to improve if they want to win the Europa League this year.

Man City have only lost 2 games at home all season, 3-0 to Arsenal and 2-1 to Everton.

Fortunately for City fans, the flip side of their poor away form is their excellent home form. Having suffered only two defeats at the City of Manchester Stadium this term, both of which were in the earlier part of the season, City will go into their tricky second leg against Kiev with confidence that they can come back from their first leg loss to register the resounding victory they need to take them to the Europa League quarter-finals.

Phew, that’s quite enough nerd-alerting for now, but for more barefaced stattage, rumours, thoughts and theories, follow me onTwitter: @footballdiaries

5 Things That Rile Me About Football

Leave a reply

We all get annoyed about certain things in football, from the myopia of the linesman to the tight-fisted penny-pinching of the chairman, there’s always something that grinds our gears. For all the joy the game can provide, there is at least as much vexatious rubbish to create an internal rage, thus balancing our pleasure and restoring an unsettlingly mediocre equilibrium.

As such, it’s time to take a moment and consider the tedious, annoying, tiresome, infuriating, aggravating and troublesome aspects of the world’s favourite sport. The list below is but 5 tedious things/people/objects long, but it could of course have easily been a top 100 annoying things in football, be they irrational or understandable, we all have our numerous pet hates, so, without any further to do, here are my top 5 things that grind my gears about modern day football.

1. Sepp Blatter

Qatar 2012. No use of technology.  Abolishing draws. Widening goals. World Cups every two years.  The list of Blatter’s unwelcome and downright stupid ideas could go on. An extremely dubious, venal, bureaucrat with a tendency to insult people in a Prince Philip style (women wearing skimpy shorts, gay people shouldn’t be worried about Qatar’s laws forbidding homosexuality), Blatter is one of the few figures in world football who stirs up the same feelings in fans everywhere – frustration and annoyance.

If we have this self-aggrandising Machiavelli in charge of our game how can we progress?  He has cleverly positioned himself at the very top of football governance in such a way that he is above criticism; he instructs his acolytes to investigate any accusation of wrong-doing and surprise, surprise, he is always exonerated of any blame.  Unfortunately, the 74-year-old has announced his intention to stand for the FIFA presidency again in 2011, and as he’s surrounded himself with his cronies,we may well have to put up with him for a while yet.

2. Boring Bowl Stadia

As great as it as that fans at the Emirates have more leg room than was available in the royal box at the old Wembley, it doesn’t change the fact that Arsenal’s relatively new stadium, for all its easy access, electronic tickets systems and vast capacity, is desperately lacking in atmosphere.  The club have tried to make the Emirates more homely than the anonymous bowl it started as, with an ‘Arsenalization’ process that has included installing a large clock at one of the ground, aping the famous Clock End at Highbury.

It’s nice to try, but the truth is these identikit, vast bowl designs have taken away a lot of what made each football ground unique. Manchester City’s Eastlands, Leicester’s Walker’s Bowl, sorry, Stadium, Derby’s Pride Park, Coventry’s Ricoh, all of these stadia are nice and new(ish), with unobstructed views and some lovely corporate boxes, but the atmosphere is lacking.

The likes of Spurs and Liverpool have gradually updated their older stadia, and have maintained the character, individuality and atmosphere of their traditional homes; sadly both clubs are looking to move into new stadia soon. But Spurs at least have an interesting way of bucking the trend: one of their end stands in a proposed new stadium will be one giant tier, to break up the bowl and leave a home for the hardcore support.

While the bowl is understandable from an accountant’s point of view, bowl = higher capacity = more fans = more money, it’s homogeneous design is a blight on the landscape of British football.

3. Metatarsals

This inconspicuous set of bones in the foot have become the bane of footballers’ and fans’ lives since the dawn of the new millennium. Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Gary Neville, Scott Parker, Ashley Cole, Danny Murphy and Michael Owen have all spent time out with metatarsal injuries, and it seems we must not drink enough milk in England’s pleasant land, as our footballers seem to have a particular susceptibility to this kind of injury.

Cue desperate dashes to make World Cups and making the cut, only to play at a standard nowhere near their best for the whole tournament, or indeed just missing the tournament altogether.  Still, I suppose it has at least given us yet more excuses as to why we didn’t win the World Cup through desperate bad luck, so… every cloud.

4. Autobiographies

Last year, Lord Sugar, previously Sir Alan Sugar, previously that bloke from Amstrad, released his autobiography.  Lord Sugar is 63 years old, he has quite some story to tell – 45 years working, from the back of a van in Hackney, to the creation of Amstrad, to becoming a millionaire, working on The Apprentice and become a peer, Alan Sugar has a real story to tell.

Ashley Cole, by contrast, released his autobiography aged 25 in 2006; the only story he had to tell was a pathetically self-indulgent one about how poorly he’d been treated by Arsenal. Trite and very put-downable, Cole’s ‘My Defence’, sold a measly 4,000 copies in the first six weeks of sale – telling you everything you need to know about modern footballers penchant for early book-form discussions of themselves.

I’m not saying football autobiographies are a bad thing in themselves, there are some excellent ones out there such as Brian Clough’s ‘Cloughie: Walking on Water’ and Niall Quinn’s excellent effort, but players should wait till the end of their career before they fill us in on the highs and lows of their footballing lives.

5. Goal Celebration Music

My favourite noise following my team scoring a goal, is the roar of the crowd – that euphoric feeling that rushes through the veins when your team scores is released in a shared primal scream of unbridled joy by thousands of people; the fist-pumping, heart-racing expression of ‘COME ON!’ and the unstoppable jumping up and down like a child high on E numbers all adds to the clamour.

My least favourite noise when my team scores is the screeching tones of Tina Turner bellowing out, ‘SIMPLY THE BEST!’, or the unrealistically optimistic words of James Browne ‘I FEEL GOOD, I KNEW THAT I WOULD’, or even the laddish, knockabout indie dross of Chelsea Dagger.  It’s not a sing-a-long, mass choir version of karaoke, it’s football – let the fans do the screaming and shouting.