Euro 2012: A SardineTrawler guide to the French national team

It’s that time of the year. Euros 2012 are upon us.

A lot of you know everything there is to know about the English squad (it’s not the greatest), but some of you might not know that much about some players in the different squads. This is where SardineTrawler will come in.

As a lot of you may know, I am half French and the France national team has always been in my heart ever since the 1998 World Cup. I was 7 at the time and that France team is the reason I fell in love with football.

However, since then, being a France fan during the big tournaments has been a horrendous roller-coaster.

• World Cup 1998 & Euros 2000: WIN
• World Cup 2002: Came 4th in a group consisting of Denmark, Uruguay and Senegal with 1 point
• Euros 2004: Exit vs Greece in the quarter-finals
• World Cup 2006: Lost on penalties to Italy in the final
• Euros 2008: Came 4th in a group consisting of Netherlands, Italy and Romania with 1 point
• World Cup 2010: Came 4th in a group consisting of Uruguay, Mexico and South Africa with 1 point

As you can see, France, since 2000 have a fairly disastrous record in international competitions (2006 aside) especially in the Group stages. The last two failures were down to one simple reason: Raymond Domenech. I don’t particularly want to go into detail about the man but if you go here and read up on Mexès, you will get a vague idea of what he was like. However, since then, Domenech has been sacked and there is a new kid on the block.

The Manager

Laurent Blanc

Larry White. Every Manchester United fan will know who this man is. Signed in 2001 at the age of 35 by Sir Alex Ferguson, this ex-defender has nearly won it all as a player. World Cup, European Championship, Ligue 1, Premier League, the list goes on.. 4 years after his retirement from football, Blanc was announced as Bordeaux manager in 2007. This unexperienced appointment proved to be extremely fruitful for the Aquitaine club and following an impressive first season in charge (finished 2nd), his second one was even better. Bordeaux finished 1st, 3 points clear of a strong Marseille side after a run of 11 straight wins.

Replacing Raymond Domenech after the awful 2010 World Cup campaign took a lot of cojones from Blanc. The squad was a complete disaster. With a few players banned for up to 18 games, Blanc took matters into his own hands and suspended the entire 23 man World Cup squad for his first game as France manager. In a certain way, this worked out incredibly well for him. By doing so, he discovered new talent such as Marvin Martin, Mamadou Sakho & Adil Rami. His first game in charge finished in a 2-1 loss to Norway but the team performances since then have been positively promising. Topping the group for the Euro 2012 qualifiers and wins in friendlies over Brazil, England and Germany show that this France squad is still a force to be reckoned with, and with Laurent Blanc’s experience as a player in these types of competition, I can see the young manager leading France quite far this summer.

Star Player

Karim Benzema

This was a tough decision but Karim Benzema edged Ribéry as France’s star player thanks to his wonderful season leading Real Madrid’s front line. His first cap and first goal for France came in the same game on the 28th of March 2007 in a friendly against Austria. Since then, the young striker has played for the France squad 42 times, scoring 13 goals. With only 2 out and out strikers in the provisional squad, Benzema will be a sure starter in every game and will hopefully be able to demonstrate his talent on the international stage as he has yet to score in an official tournament with most of his goals coming in qualifiers. At the tender age of 24 and playing at a team like Real Madrid, Karim has all the time and potential to become one of France’s greats.

One to watch

Marvin Martin

I have no idea if Marvin Martin will make the final 23 on the 29th of May, but he definitely should. This little explosive attacking midfielder had an incredible 2010-2011 season. His partnership with Ryad Boudebouz and Modibo Maïga at Sochaux allowed him to be the top assister of Ligue 1 last season with 17 assists. Unfortunately for him, Sochaux failed to live up to expectations this season and have found themselves near the bottom of Ligue 1 where they are still mathematically in danger of being relegated. In a particularly disappointing season for Sochaux, however, he has still managed to provide 8 assists and score 2 goals from midfield. I will be extremely surprised if he is still a Sochaux player next season as many clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain have expressed an interest in him. Marvin was selected for the first time to play for France in a friendly against Ukraine on the 6th of June 2011. Unsurprisingly, continuing on the high that was the 2010-2011 season, he scored 2 goals including a wonderful long range effort. He has since been capped another 8 times providing 3 assists to his fellow teammates. With France having a relatively strong midfield and players such as Ribéry, Ménez and Nasri, I do hope we get to see Martin at some stage in the tournament as he has a lot of creativity and flair to offer to the team.

This video shows what he is capable of:

The Ugly Duckling

Yoann Gourcuff

Alright, I agree, Gourcuff is probably not a player you would classify as “ugly” but you get what I am trying to say. Every tournament squad has that one player who for some reason is picked (Stewart Downing) after having a incredibly disappointing season. This year, Gourcuff is that player. Having only started 13 games this season for Lyon during a season marred by injuries, Gourcuff has never been able to recapture his form from 2009 when he pretty much single handedly led Bordeaux to the league title under Laurent Blanc. At the time, people were claiming him to be “the next Zidane”. However, from the moment Laurent Blanc left Bordeaux and Gourcuff transferred to Lyon, his decline has been quite remarkable. This article, written by Tom Williams, reporter for Agence France Presse (AFP), explains the Gourcuff situation a lot better than I ever could. As Tom says in his article, “For all his recent struggles, Gourcuff remains one of only two true playmakers at Blanc’s disposal (Sochaux’s Marvin Martin is the other)” and that really is the only reason why I think Gourcuff was picked in the provisional squad. Will he be in the final 23? I think he will but now it is up to Laurent Blanc to see if he can push Gourcuff to recapture his Bordeaux ’09 form and show people why he picked him. If he does manage it, France’s chances of getting anything out of Euro 2012 will improve a lot as the comparisons to Zidane back then were not too far off…

The Surprise Entry

Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa

“Who?” I hear you say. Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (MYM for the rest of this post), is a defender who plays for Montpellier in Ligue 1. Made captain this season by René Girard at the age of 22, MYM is a born leader. His ability to play anywhere along the back line with ease will make him a useful covering player for Laurent Blanc should he select him in the final 23. However, he is the only player chosen by Blanc in the preliminary squad with no previous international experience apart from 8 U-21 caps for France and because of this, I cannot see him being part of the final Euro 2012 squad as the defence has a lot of cover with at least 2 players for each role. On the other hand, I would not be surprised if we got to see more of him in the future, whether in the Premier League or in a French shirt, only time will tell.

When asked about the player by SardineTrawler, Tom Williams described MYM as “strong, athletic, and imposing in the air. Good passer of the ball as well, and deceptively skilful for a centre-back.” What more could you ask for, when looking for a versatile defender?

Here are highlights of his game this season against Lille to give you an idea of what is like:

 

As far as France’s tournament hopes go, I think that the semi-finals are a realistic target for Laurent Blanc’s team. They have sufficient quality in their squad to compete against teams such as Italy in the quarters but I have a feeling they will fall short against a strong Netherlands squad in the semis. The lack of experience in the squad, something Spain have in the likes of Xavi and Iniesta, means that Laurent Blanc will have to inspire his team greatly if they want to win the tournament. His experience, as mentioned earlier, in these competitions as a player could prove to be the spark France lacked in the last few tournaments.

The to-and-Fro regarding THAT midfield position

As I write this, Manchester United are favourites to sign Shinji Kagawa for a reported £7 million to fill that attacking midfielder position all the fans have been craving. Is he Ferguson’s way of saying that Manchester City outmuscled United once more for a player (Eden Hazard)?

Regardless of whether Manchester United sign Hazard, Kagawa, both or neither, this player could be more important for the team should United ever consider signing him.

Marouane Fellaini

The hair alone should make anyone want to buy him

People have been talking for a while now that Manchester United lack two main players in their midfield: a box to box midfielder and a midfield powerhouse/destroyer.

For me, Marouane Fellaini is a bit of both. At 6’4″, he is clearly classified as “strong” player and his determination whether it is to push his team forward or track back and do his defensive duties is quite admirable. But for me, the reason why I think Manchester United should consider him for the coming season is to rival Yaya Touré.

In the 1-0 loss at the Etihad, I remember vividly Phil Jones going on one of his galloping runs forward only for Yaya Touré to catch up with him, give him what seemingly was a small shoulder barge, get the ball off him and leave him sprawled out on the ground. We all know that Phil Jones is by no means a weakling but the strength and ease Yaya Touré demonstrated in flooring Jones by not committing a foul is something which United lack in their squad and Marouane Fellaini someone who is capable of doing that.

Fellaini was bought by Everton primarily as a defensive minded midfielder, but his ability to push forward and become a nuisance up front has become more and more apparent as time has gone on. Manchester United’s terrible 4-4 result at home to Everton this season is the perfect example of that. Fellaini started in the center of midfield next to Gibson and Phil Neville. As the minutes passed, he started creeping more and more forward and started to make his presence felt to the Manchester United defence. He showed up at the right time to exquisitely volley in Tony Hibbert’s cross to make it 3-2 and claimed an assist full of determination and strength to pass to Pienaar who made it 4-4.

Fellaini would allow Manchester United to also start off in a 4-2-3-1 next to Carrick for example (something which the fans have been demanding for a while), allowing the newly signed attacking midfielder to play in front of them with the wingers and the striker but also to give confidence to the defence who know they would have this huge physical presence in front of them. If things do not go to plan, let Fellaini push forward. Once he is inside the box, he is near unmanageable. However, for this to happen, another midfielder needs to be signed. Someone who is primarily there to pick up the ball from the defence and move it forward permitting Fellaini to move forward without leaving any gaps in midfield. A fit Fletcher would be perfect but I fear that Darren will never play football in higher-tier ever again.

Another advantage Fellaini brings in midfield: his height. Fellaini is a huge threat in the air capable of scoring goals with that great afro of his but, should he push forward, also capable of flicking on goal kicks and long balls from the back or holding up the ball in the same way a target man is expected to. Aim for his hair and he will most certainly get something on it.

The only problem with acquiring Fellaini is that he will not come cheap. He still has 4 years left on his contract and has become such an important part of Moyes’ plans that he will not want to let him go. Will Sir Alex Ferguson ever get a new midfielder able to boss the midfield? Only time will tell…

AVB’s Chelsea blues

I feel quite sorry for André Villas-Boas. As much as I like to see Chelsea fail, he has tremendous potential as a manager having proven that during his time at FC Porto, he’s quite funny during interviews and even called himself the “shit” one.

Last night, we saw Chelsea get dismantled defensively by Napoli who, despite having 3 of the best attacking players in Serie A, are currently lying 6th in the Italian league having won only 2 of their last five games (which included a loss at Genoa and a draw to Cesena).

This shows that this Napoli team isn’t unbeatable. They have scored 41 goals and conceded 24 in 24 league games. They also seem to have a knack of getting draws (10 of them so far, 9 wins and 5 losses).

Cavani increased AVB's woes

Chelsea showed that last night, breaking through their defensive line with ease, but they appear to have a major problem at the moment: they cannot finish. Mata and Sturridge seem to be the only two players who look like they can put the ball in the back of the net for the Blues but what is more worrying is that they had a £50 million unused sub on the bench.

Admittedly, Torres is really struggling at the moment. He looks lost on the pitch; his poor touches against Birmingham in the FA Cup caused him to get subbed at half-time and he has only scored 2 goals in approximately 20 games in the Premier League.

Drogba seems to have lost something in his play too. He did make a few good runs last night but he does look a lot slower and less threatening than the Drogba we all have come to know. His age probably does not help (33) but even so, he appears to be unhappy on the pitch every game.

There have been multiple rumours of disputes in the dressing room, including one which stated that Drogba took a half-time team talk (something which AVB was quick to dismiss).

I think Villas-Boas’ biggest problem however, is his defence and the absence of John Terry. The English defender has recently been ruled out for 6 to 8 weeks due to knee surgery and the statistics show that they really do miss him. Chelsea have not won a game since the beginning of his injury and have conceded at least one goal in each of those games.

David Luiz is starting to become the laughing stock of the Chelsea backline. He really needs to look at a DVD of himself playing with someone standing over him pointing out exactly where he is going wrong. Gary Neville’s statement that he played like he was being controlled by a 10 year old on a PlayStation wasn’t far off last night. He made a mistake which led to a goal, never looked comfortable and rarely has in this Chelsea team. Half the time, he looks more like an attacking midfielder, with his runs and want to get into the mix up front. He has to remember he is playing at centre back and not as a trequarista who sits deep.

For me, AVB is too young to be managing a team like Chelsea. He was not extremely experienced when he took the job. The Portuguese league is not the most competitive and I agree he did well in the Europa League but that is not what Chelsea want to achieve. Ancelotti was the right man for the job.

Ancelotti came in following Guus Hiddink following the dismissal of Luiz Felipe Scolari and Ray Wilkins’ short tenure of the managerial role as a stop-gap. He then went on to win a Community Shield, an FA Cup and a Premier League title during the 2009-2010 season. Unfortunately for him, Abramovich is very impatient and a 2nd spot in the Premier League behind Manchester United and being knocked of the Champions League by Manchester United saw Ancelotti get sacked unfairly. What did Ancelotti have that André does not?

Well firstly, he had experience. He had already won a Serie A, 2 Champions Leagues, 1 Italian Cup, 1 Italian Super Cup, 1 Club World Championship and 2 UEFA Super Cups during his 8 year spell at AC Milan. Players respected him for what he had achieved in Italy. The Serie A has always been a competitive league. AC Milan, Juventus and Inter are the top 3 clubs in that country, but every year a few teams challenge out of nowhere e.g. Napoli and Udinese last season. Compare this to Villas-Boas who won a Europa League and a Portuguese league with a squad comprising of Hulk, James Rodriguez, Joao Moutinho, Falcao and Otamendi.

Unfortunately for Villas-Boas, he constantly lives in the shadow of his mentor and predecessor. The Special One. José Mourinho. Compatriots, they both won a European competition with Porto before both going to Chelsea. Admittedly, Mourinho’s was a bit more spectacular as he won the Champions League knocking out Manchester United in the first knockout round, Lyon, a strong Deportivo side in the semis and a surprise package Monaco side in the final. Apart from honours however, Mourinho had and still has that je ne sais quoi which makes him ooze confidence and respect. The fact that he has gone on and won the Champions League again with Inter Milan makes him one of the best managers of all time, becoming the 3rd manager to win the Champions League with 2 different clubs.

André knows the Premier League, I do not deny that. He has the Premier League experience having been a scout/assistant manger for Mourinho during his time at Porto and following him to Chelsea & Inter Milan for a bit before trying his hands out at managing. He was also Bobby Robson’s protégé for many years, having met him during the Englishman’s managerial stint at Porto.

I believe André lacks to authority in his personality to succeed at a successful club like Chelsea in such a competitive league. Manchester City’s money and Harry Redknapp’s wonders at Tottenham would have made anyone’s role at Chelsea difficult this season. He just seems too… nice? I cannot really describe it but I cannot really see him shouting at players if they have had a bad game. He seems more of a “better luck next time… and next time… and next time” character.

A lot more this will be needed, André

If you look at the age of Chelsea players, AVB is only a year older than Lampard and Drogba. How would you feel if someone a year older than you was telling you what to do day in, day out. If you take a look at the rest of the managers in the big Premier League clubs, they are all far older than their oldest player.

I may be completely wrong and he might dish out a hairdryer treatment every team talk, no one can know for sure. This is just how I perceive him from press conferences and interviews.

In all honesty, if Villas-Boas goes before or at the end of the season, no-one will be surprised. In my opinion, he will stay as I think Chelsea will beat Arsenal to 4th spot, just. On the other hand, if Chelsea finish 5th or less, his Blues (get it?) will quickly turn themselves into an open door held open by Mr Roman Abramovich.

Emmanuel Eboué: Speaker of Truths

Most of the time, footballers on Twitter just talk drivel and aren’t the most interesting characters to follow i.e. Joey Barton. However, once in a while, one player defies all odds and whilst reading what he has to say, you just find yourself sitting there nodding in approval.

In my case, Emmanuel Eboué (@TheRealEboue) did just that today when talking about his ex-teammates’ performance last night vs AC Milan. He goes on a criticises nearly every single on of the starting 11, one by one including the manager.

The tweets have been kept in their original form, spelling and all:

“I didnt wanna talk about yesterday game. But i must remain Loyal & honest.”

“Arsenal performance yesterday was a digrace. They boys should cover their face with their hands. They should refund all the arsenal Fans”

Arsène Wenger

“For me personally Boss should start benching Theo. He needs to start playing Gervihno and Alex Ox.”

“My Boss Wenger, Pls Boss. Listen to the people and bench useless players. Player with no passion & brain. It is time you boss. it is time.”

Theo Walcott

“If Theo wants to Run, Let him go and run on the TreadMill… He hasnt paid back the investement wenger made in him. Am ashamed. sorry Theo”

Aaron Ramsey

“Ramsey needs to stop thinking he is Cesc. He is trying to hard. Mate, Just stick to what you know. Cant wait for Jack to be back. he is best”

Alex Song

“Alex Song , Am sorry mate, But you have gone down in the performance. maybe you need a rest. you need to be more like Tiote. Help those kids”

Tomáš Rosický

“Rosicky i respect you and you are a good professional, but you need to start shooting and doing more. anybody can pass from A 2 B. plsssss”

Johan Djourou

“Djorou, whats wrong wiv you brother. You should be better than this. i dont understand. maybe you stoped eating fufu when i left. Man up bro”

Mikel Arteta

“Arteta, You need to do more. You can spend all the time looking after your hair, pls brother take charge or you might as well do a Cesc”

Robin Van Persie

“Van i respect you . there was just no supply from the blind midfield .. Yes..blind, No vision… cant pick out Van. what a shame.”

Bacary Sagna & Kieran Gibbs

“As for sagna and Gibbs, i cant blame you guys , you only juts got back into the game. Please guys, eat more fufu to stay strong.”

Thomas Vermaelen

“Vermalean, You are still a great defender.. Just one bad night . i cannot criticise you.”

Wojciech Szczęsny

“Keeper, You still young and growing”

Thierry Henry

“Thiery, The best we ever had, i respect you legend. You would always remain in our heart. One love VA VA VOOM”

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

“Alex Ox. You are the brightest thing that ever came on the pitch. Good footballer, better than walcott. You run, dribble, shoot. #TheFuture“

After the “attack”, there have been a few stating that @TheRealEboue is not in fact Emmanuel Eboué’s Twitter account whereas some have been confirming that it is. Be that as it may, whoever wrote those tweets has got the right idea about the Arsenal team.

Arsenal get Ibrahimovic’d: Where does this leave them?

Everyone who watched ITV last night will have witnessed what some will most likely refer to as a “thrashing” by AC Milan over Arsenal.

Arsenal are currently 4th in the Premier League, level on points with Chelsea with the exact same goal difference. Give this position to an Arsenal fan 5 months ago, they would have snatched it without any hesitation.

However, last night we saw just exactly what Arsenal are all about. The gaps left by Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri were evident for all to see. AC Milan’s 4-2-3-1 formation crowded the London midfield and exploited any gaps offered by a wayward Walcott on the right wing.

Nocerino and Van Bommel were outstanding in front of their back 4, crowding any attempt at an Arsenal counter-attack and when the ball was collected, simply fed it through to one of their forwards who started their own counter-attack.

For me, however, one player who stood out for AC Milan was the player who everybody wrote off before the game: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The stat (3 goals in 14 appearances against English teams) was presented before the game and everyone expected another poor performance by the tall Swede. Maybe he read it and decided to change it, or maybe Arsenal were really that bad, but 2 great assists and a goal are just enough to describe his performance.

Ibrahimovic celebrates his penalty and Milan's fourth

Every time Ibra got the ball, Arsenal defenders seemed lost for ideas as to how to cope with his 6’4″ frame. Even the usually brilliant Vermaelen was made to look average by Zlatan and his fellow forwards.

In all honesty, Arsenal were terrible last night. They did not look like a “top-four” club and are deservedly (unless a supernatural feat were to happen at the Emirates) out of the Champions League but that will not be Arsene Wenger’s biggest worry.

After the game, Wenger described the performance as “weak, shocking and a disaster”. Unless Wenger works some Alex Ferguson magic, I do not see Arsenal recovering quickly from this.

As I said in an earlier post, Arsenal’s team sheet leaves a lot to be desired. The return of Henry gave them that added flair up front but now that he is gone (again), they are left with Robin Van Persie to save them. I was wrong about Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and he has so far proved to be a great talent, however, I personally do not think that RVP and a 19 year old boy will be enough to help Arsenal to Champions League football next year.

If by some miracle, Arsenal do beat off Chelsea for that fourth spot in the Premier League, Robin Van Persie will most probably sign a new contract for the London club after many reassurances by his manager that the club will sign top players. If they do not, I fear that this will be the end of Arsenal’s run in the top tier of the Premier League. Arsene Wenger could leave to take over Laurent Blanc’s job as France manager after the Euros and without Champions League football, Robin Van Persie will be on the first train/plane/car out of London.

On a slightly more positive note, Arsenal are planning to announce wonderful profits from the last year in the next few days, a feat that the rest of the Premier League clubs have failed to do. This comes as no surprise as the club have always been a profit-making organisation but, where does this money go?

They have not spent excessively in the past 4-5 years (Arshavin being the main exception). Bar Arteta, the summer signings of André Santos, Benayoun (loan), Gervinho, Mertesacker and Park Chu-Young have proved to be a great waste of these profits.

Of course, they built the Emirates Stadium and increased their stadium capacity, but many Arsenal fans have said that the atmosphere since leaving Highbury has been much worse.

The last 5 years have been a slippery slope downhill for the London club and anyone trying to debate against this just needs to look at their recent league positions and their lack of trophies.

Even as a Manchester United fan, it brings me little happiness seeing a club which has played such wonderful football declining so rapidly in the space of a few years but as I have said throughout this post, without a drastic change somewhere, Arsenal will not be playing Champions League football next year and could find themselves slipping down the table quickly over the coming years.

Stuart Pearce’s dilemma: 2012 Olympics GB Squad

Everyday in the BBC or in any other newspaper/internet site which covers football, we are subjected to yet another article regarding the Great Britain U-23 Squad. As most of you will already know, when Olympics are held, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England put all their differences aside and become a Great Britain team. In football, however, this is apparently not the case. The Welsh and Scottish FA are against their players taking part in the 2012 Olympics as part of Great Britain as they say this could threaten their country’s international footballing independence. The only problem for them is that they have no control over what their players do. In the end, it is up to the player.

This topic has emerged once more following pictures of Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey were released by Adidas of them modelling a Great Britain supporter’s shirt. Bale and Ramsey have already expressed their wish to play for Great Britain in the 2012 London Olympics and unless they personally feel that this undermines their country’s independence as a footballing nation, I am sure they will.

So far, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay, Belarus, Switzerland, and of course Great Britain (hosts) will be represented at the Men’s Footballing Tournament, but another 10 nations are to be announced at various times until the 12th of April 2012 following tournaments. The groups for the Olympics will be drawn on the 24th of April 2012 and the competition will take place from the 26th of July until the 11th of August 2012. Squads are limited to 18 players with a minimum of 2 goalkeepers. As you may have already guessed, these squads have an age limit of 23 (born after 1st of January 1989), however, 3 of the 18 players are allowed to be older.

Looking at the teams already announced, if Great Britain are to put up a fight for the Gold Medal, they will need to pick a strong squad and this is where having the option of picking Bale and Ramsey will prove to be useful. When browsing the Brazil squad, for example, a potential Olympics Squad is easily picked and the more players are picked, the scarier the team looks. Players such as Neymar, Ganso (Paulo Henrique), Leandro Damiao and Alexande Pato (yep!) are all under the age of 23 and the likely inclusion of Ronaldinho and Julio César as senior members increase the squad strength even more. The same can be said for Spain’s U-23 squad, which will probably consist of a vast majority of the team who lifted the U-21 Euro Championship earlier on in the year which included Barcelona gem Thiago Alcântara, Manchester United keeper David De Gea and Roma/Barcelona striker Bojan Krkić.

Looking at these potential squads, Stuart Pearce will surely want to pick his strongest possible squad and this, in my eyes and barring any fitness problems or drastic drops in form, is the squad (in a 4-4-2ish formation) which has the greatest potential of competing for the London 2012 Olympic Football Gold Medal.

Goalkeeper

Joe Hart (25)*

That’s right. Straight in with an over 23 player! A vast majority of the squads in the Olympics will contain a 23 year old+ goalkeeper. Why? The simple reason is that having an experienced goalkeeper behind a youthful defence is an extremely useful safety net. If any of the defenders make a mistake and a striker finds himself clean through on goal, I know for a fact that any Great Britain fan would prefer to have the England number one in goal rather than a young goalkeeper such as Alex Smithies or Jack Butland. He will also bring experience to the defence with good organisation skills and influence. Joe Hart should be available as I cannot see Manchester City refusing him the opportunity to play in the Olympics and the 6 ft 5 in goalkeeper from Shewsbury should be Stuart Pearce’s first name on the squad list.

Right-Back

Kyle Walker (22)*

I’m not going to lie. Before Kyle Walker impressed greatly at Aston Villa last season, I hadn’t heard that much of him. A product of the Sheffield United youth system, I first noticed him when he scored that 30 yard goal against Fulham in the Premier League and since then, I have kept an eye on him. Kyle is known for his attacking runs à-la Patrice Evra on the right flank and that is why Tottenham decided to keep him this season rather than loan him out once more. Before, Tottenham had Corluka and Hutton at right back but the two of them are highly injury-prone and Kyle has proved how fit he is after playing the whole of last season, including at the U-21 European Championship, where again he impressed greatly. A constant threat on the overlap, good tackling skills and a mean cross on him make him the starting right back in this squad.

Left-Back

Neil Taylor (23)*

Full Wales international and left back for newly promoted Swansea, Neil Taylor was not my first choice but his recent performances with Swansea and his young age meant that he overtook Ryan Bertrand as my starting left-back. I was going to put Bertrand, as the youngster from Chelsea was Stuart Pearce’s first choice at the Euro U-21 Championships but the fact that Neil Taylor is of age to play for the Olympics and that he possesses international first team experience makes him a better candidate. And let’s not forget that he is Welsh and that will look good on the team sheet as it is a Great Britain squad and not solely English. Putting aside the international experience, he is also currently in the best home Premier League defence with Swansea who, for a newly promoted club, have only conceded 2 goals in 6 home games. I can see Swansea staying up this season as their performances have been impressive and unless injury strikes, Neil Taylor will have a big part to play in their survival battle.

Centre-Backs

Phil Jones (20)* & Chris Smalling (22)*

I know that I have already used this picture in my blog, but, as they both play for Manchester United and are both near definite choices for the squad, I thought I’d write about them together. If you want a detailed description of how good these two fledgling centre backs are then by all means please have a look at my blog about Youth over Money. Just to be brief, as these two are talked about constantly on television and don’t need much of an introduction, Jones and Smalling are the future of England as centre-backs. Both have full England caps and judging by Fabio Capello’s recent comments after friendly wins over Spain and Sweden, Jones will most definitely be on the plane to the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine. As Smalling has been used more and more at right-back when playing for Manchester United and England, he would provide useful cover for Kyle Walker as the fixtures at the Olympics are quite close together and unless anything dramatic happens to these two before the Euros and Olympics, they might have a summer to remember (or to forget…).

Midfielder (Defensive)

Jack Rodwell (21)*

Similarly to Kyle Walker and Phil Jones, Jack Rodwell has just come back from 2 very impressive displays for England in the friendlies against Spain and Sweden. As Capello has already said, Jack Rodwell is part of his “something new” regarding England. The tenacious midfielder was criticised for not being ruthless enough for Everton when it came down to the “ugly” part of his defensive midfielder role. Many have said that his sending off against Liverpool for the non-existent foul on Luis Suárez was the click for Jack Rodwell. Since then, his game seems to have improved down both ends of the pitch. His defending has been more no-nonsense-like and his ability to pick the right pass at the right time whilst driving the team forward has allowed Everton to create more chances in front of goal and improve their position in the Premier League.

Midfielder (Less Defensive)

Aaron Ramsey (21)*

Recent injuries to Tom Cleverley and Jack Wilshere made this decision a bit easier for now. I’m sure that when the time comes, this position will be Stuart Pearce’s biggest headache. However, you cannot deny Aaron Ramsey a place in the squad. Since THE injury, he has come back with a bang. After a few loan spells to lower league clubs to get his fitness back and the departure of Cesc Fabregas, the Welsh playmaker has stepped into the Cesc role with great maturity. A key-player in Arsenal’s new gain of form with a few assists here and there and a fitness level which most midfielders would be more than happy with, this box to box midfielder should be a definite for the Olympics Squad. Let’s not forget that at the tender age of 20 (I am older than him), Mister Ramsey is captain of the Wales National Team ahead of many older teammates. Many of you will prefer Wilshere in this position, but I am merely writing this blog on recent form. Just to reassure all of you who might have your mouths open, Wilshere is on my bench as I can’t see him not being picked for the Olympic squad.

Left Midfielder

Gareth Bale (23)*

In a similar position to Jones and Smalling, Gareth Bale doesn’t need to be introduced. You all remember the two legs against Inter Milan in the Champions League last season and everyone knows what the Flying Welshman is capable of. A dip in Bale’s performances in the second half of last season, created many doubts as to whether his first half form was just luck. This season, he has set out to prove the doubters wrong. A few goals for Tottenham and one in the 4-1 rout by Wales over Norway, suggests that the Welshman is back to his best. His speed and dribbling ability are a constant threat to opposition full-backs and his deadly left foot, whether it is for a shot on goal or a whipped cross in the box, scares many goalkeepers. If you can name me a better 22 year old left winger within Great Britain then please do, but if Gareth decides to put his name forward for the Great Britain Olympic team, then I don’t think many will object to him occupying a starting spot in the line-up.

Right Midfielder

Theo Walcott (23)*

Most of my friends will know that I am not the biggest fan of Theo. Yes, he was picked by Big Sven for the 2006 World Cup and yes, he plays for Arsenal but for me, he has never fully developed his potential. Clearly, people have different views to me as the Londoner has 21 caps and 3 goals for his country (all against Croatia). I agree that Walcott has a lot of ability but let’s not forget that he is a striker, and as a striker, he has failed to impress which has led him to be converted to a right winger for Arsenal. Having said this, on his day, Theo can change a game. Let’s take the quarter final against Barcelona as an example. Arsenal were 2-0 down when Theo was introduced and the game finished 2-2. Theo walked home with a goal and an assist under his belt against the best team in the world. Consistency is key in football and that is what I think Walcott lacks. However, I do not think any other right midfielders, including Arsenal teammate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, are good enough to dislodge him from his right winger role and with a bit of luck, Theo might find himself experiencing his best tournament yet at the Olympics.

Striker

Wayne Rooney (26)*

Why Wazza? Because, if you want someone in front of goal for your country in an international competition, why not have your best player? Wayne Rooney will be fresh from a short Euro 2012 as he will most probably miss the group stages through suspension. His record speaks for itself (28 goals in 73 caps) and 111 goals in 228 appearances for Manchester United. Not only can he score but he can play just off the top striker and play as an attacking midfielder. I would be surprised if Rooney isn’t selected in the squad as he will lift spirits with his determination and stamina amongst the younger players.

Striker

Daniel Sturridge (22)*

A former Manchester City product bought under suspicious circumstances by Chelsea, Daniel Sturridge came into the spotlight when Carlo Ancelotti’s decision to let him go on loan to Bolton last season proved to be very fruitful. The youngster scored 8 goals in 12 appearances for the northern club. Having come back to Chelsea to a new manager, the striker impressed in the pre-season and remained in André Villas-Boas’ plans. He has so far, this season scored 6 goals in 12 games for the London club in all competitions and will undoubtedly score more as he matures throughout the season in a team which has struggled to find the back of the net. Drogba, Torres and Anelka will have to work hard this season to keep the 22 year old from jumping ahead of them in the pecking order. I have chosen Sturridge ahead of Welbeck alongside Rooney in this starting XI as he has been more prolific of late, but either one will suit this role.

* – All ages in brackets are the age each player will have at the start of the Olympics.

Before I write about my bench, many of you will have wondered why Beckham isn’t in the starting line-up . I don’t think Beckham will start every game as he does not have the fitness these young players have, but he will provide valuable maturity and experience within the squad with 115 England caps to his name. This tournament will be Beckham’s last chance to say goodbye to the country he loves and I highly doubt that Stuart Pearce will deny him the opportunity. Therefore, Beckham will be on the 7 man bench.

Bench

• David Beckham (37)*
• Scott Sinclair (23)*
• Jack Wilshere (20)*
• Tom Cleverley (22)*
• Danny Welbeck (21)*
• Martin Kelly (22)*
• Jack Butland (19)*

When the time comes, Stuart Pearce’s squad will probably be different to this one as I am not a professional manager, or scout, or anything in the footballing world, as they have much more insight in the matter. Be that as it may, you can rest assured that a few of the names above will be in the squad list. You may also have noticed that there are no Scotland players in the squad. Why? I don’t really know. I did try and think of a few but apart from Charlie Adam or Darren Fletcher, no one really sprang to mind when deciding on positions and I think the two midfielders I have put in the starting line-up are in better form. The same applies to Northern Ireland. However, I wouldn’t put it past Stuart Pearce to pick someone from Scotland or Northern Ireland, just to contradict everything I have just said.

If the Welsh and Scottish players decide against putting their names forward for the Olympic Squad, this would cause Stuart Pearce’s biggest dilemma in his managerial history. For the sake of having at least Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey in the squad, let’s hope they do.

Have you got someone else in mind for the squad? Please let me know below!

Футбол in Russia: A derby

My girlfriend has always said that she wanted to go watch a football game at a stadium. I thought that taking her to Zenit St-Petersburg vs. Dinamo Moscow (also known as one of the ‘derby of two capitals’) would be a perfect opportunity to show her a great footballing atmosphere. In many ways I was right, in others… Not so much!

Last Saturday (15th of October), was the last chance to watch a Zenit St Petersburg game vs. a Moscow team and I wasn’t going to miss it for the world. I had already had a taste of Russian footballing atmosphere when I went to see the Zenit-Porto Champions League game on the 28th of September and was relishing the opportunity to go back once more.

Just to clear things up, as far as I am aware, Lokomotiv Moscow are Zenit’s arch enemies. Dinamo and CSKA are obviously close behind so, even though this isn’t THE derby game of the season, we were in for a treat.

The prospect of a derby game in Russia is somewhat daunting, as their fans are always incredibly rowdy which was made clear as soon as we got off the Metro at Sportivnaya. Streams of white and light blue scarves took over the streets and slowly and noisily made their way to the gates. Riot police were present, as you would expect, and military trucks could be seen either side of the road in order to intimidate any fans thinking of making themselves noticed prior to the game. This apparently worked. There were no major incidents before getting to our seats apart from the standard 3 searches at each of the gates.

View from Sector 4

When queuing up to enter the stadium, I noticed that this time around, fans were allowed to consume alcohol. I am all for a bit of alcohol before a game to get in the mood but this is a country who only very recently agreed to declare beer as an alcoholic beverage. You can see where this is going…

We sat down in the sector 4, the same stand as for the Champions League game, but on the other side of the entrance meaning that we were closer to the away fans. The security around them was something which I have never seen before. Riot police surrounding them around the stands and at the bottom, beyond the barriers, a formation of military police was ready to greet any Dinamo fan willing to attempt and make it onto the pitch.

Go on… I dare ya…

The game started without many incidents. A few chants here and there, a few misses by Danny and Voronin. The first half was somewhat rather uneventful. Everything was pointing towards a drab 0-0 and a very disappointed and cold girlfriend. How wrong I was…

The second half kicked off and the beer-fuelled fans returned. Around the 50th minute, a few Zenit fans started chanting directly at the Dinamo fans, swearing and abusing them in the process. As you can imagine, this displeased the Moscow based fans greatly. In response to this, a few Zenit shirts and flags appeared in the Moscow stand. Strange, right? 30 seconds later, they clarified things up. Lighters were brought out and used to burn the Zenit items along with a few fireworks being set off from the Dinamo stand into the air.

In all fairness, it was really cold…

Surprisingly, the riot police surrounding the Moscow fans found this rather normal and refused to even acknowledge the flames emerging from the Dinamo stand.

In our stand, a few Zenit fans reciprocated to the burning of their memorabilia by chanting towards the Dinamo fans and throwing a few lighters and other objects at them. Then all of a sudden, a trail of sparks came out of nowhere behind us, and what looked like 2 flares landed in the Moscow stand. The Dinamo fans stared at the floor, wondering what had just happened when suddenly, an loud bang came from the stand floor and a flash of multicoloured light came out of a group of Dinamo fans. The Zenit fans had just launched two fireworks directly at the Dinamo Ultras, stunning, if not injuring, what appeared to be a 10-12 year old boy who had to be carried out of the stadium.

As one might expect, this infuriated the Dinamo fans even more and various objects were launched in our direction. Many of their fans attempted to make it to our stands, only to be greeted by the wall of riot police who had to use nightsticks to calm the situation down. Many of the Zenit fans found this rather amusing and felt that swearing at them would make things better. This, of course, did not. More and more Moscovites decided to join in the fight with the riot police. This lasted for a good 10 minutes during which, luckily, nothing happened on the pitch as our attention was directed to our left and not towards the green playing surface.

As you can see, the Zenit fan at the bottom of the picture is clearly helping

Once the situation had calmed down, we were able to focus once more on the largely uneventful game in front of us. Slowly, news must have spread around the stadium that something was happening down our end, as the Zenit Ultras across the pitch started jumping and chanting louder than ever. Slowly, flashes of red started to appear in the Ultras section and fires started to be lit. After a while, the entire other end of the stadium was bright red and yellow and a large cloud of smoke started to spread across the playing surface. This didn’t seem to affect the players who carried on playing as if nothing was happening.

For some reason, I was quite glad with our choice of seats…

In the end, the game finished 0-0. This meant that Zenit kept their 1st position in the Russian League and edged them closer to a 2nd Russian Premier League trophy in the same number of seasons. We left the stadium rather quickly in order to avoid getting stuck in the mass exodus, which commonly happens at football games, and made our way home safely. Talking to my girlfriend on the way back, you will be glad to hear that she enjoyed her first game of football, even though we were rather close of being mixed up in a Dinamo-Zenit fan brawl.

A week or so after the game, I was looking at things to do in Saint Petersburg on Wikitravel and in the ‘Be Safe’ section, this advice can be found: ‘Also, Saint Petersburg’s football club, Zenit Saint Petersburg, is one of the biggest clubs in the country, and has its own band of hooligans. If you decide to visit the football stadium to watch the club play, you should buy tickets to center sectors. If you do not do this and a fight starts, you are likely to get dragged into it by either the hooligans or the police, since both will think you are part of the brawl’.

Honestly, we did enjoy the game and I would probably do it again as Zenit fans rarely fight between each other and unless you are sitting in the Ultras stand, you are very unlikely to have any trouble come your way. However, if you want to enjoy a peaceful Zenit game with a lively, yet safe, atmosphere, I recommend going to any game that does not involve a Moscow team.

I really hope that if any of you do end up going to Russia, you will take the opportunity to view a football game of some sort. Unfortunately for me, this was the last league game I will be able to attend as the season is almost over. I will however try and go to the Zenit-APOEL game later on this year. The game should be make or break for Zenit regarding their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League and should be a great one.

I apologise for the lack of posts lately as work and other matters are prioritised but more should be on the way.

@sardinetrawler

All photos are courtesy of my girlfriend as I forgot my camera prior to the game.

Youth over money: The new Chelsea dilemma, Manchester United’s catalyst & Arsenal’s downfall

Youth academies. For all of you who play Football Manager or FIFA, you will know that they are an important part of a club’s success. Buy low, train, sell high/keep. There is nothing more rewarding for a manager to see players who have been nursed into superstars from a young age at the club. Look at Scholes, Giggs, the Neville Brothers for Manchester United or even Messi at Barcelona. The new wave of talented youth flooding the Premiership from the bottom of the table to the top can only be a sign that the Barclays Premier League will remain the strongest league in Europe, if not the world.

Chelsea

I decided to write this article today after reading the latest article on the BBC regarding André Villas-Boas and Chelsea Football Club. The article reports club chairman, Bruce Buck, stating that AVB may be Chelsea’s Sir Alex Ferguson. Chelsea have been a club who, in recent years, have spent a lot of money on experienced players, trying to get immediate success and, I do give credit where it is due, under José Mourinho, they managed it. 2 English Premier Leagues, 1 FA Cup and 2 League Cups. Many managers followed and it was only until vastly experienced Carlo Ancelotti arrived that some success came their way again. Unfortunately, Roman Abramovich is the impatient type. No consistent success means you are out the door. This is where AVB comes in. At the tender age of 33 and already good and successful coaching experience under his belt, he seems the perfect man for the long term. 1 loss in 10 games is a positive start for the youngest manager in the Premiership.

Chelsea’s answer to Sir Alex Ferguson?

Unfortunately, André hasn’t been blessed with the youngest of squads. Lampard (33), Terry (30), Drogba (33), Anelka (32), Cole (30) and Malouda (31) were the backbone of Ancelotti’s 2009/2010 Premier League winning squad. Only Terry and Cole start week in, week out for Chelsea this season with players such as Torres (27), Mata (23), Meireles (28) and even ex-Bolton loanee Sturridge (22) starting ahead of them. Don’t get me wrong, Chelsea have an incredibly strong squad, but what they haven’t got are pure club-bred players. As the BBC article stated, the only Chelsea through and through player starting for the first team is John Terry. Since 2006, Chelsea have spent over £267,000,000 on players. Most of these players have been successful (Drogba, Essien etc…) but a couple (Shevchenko, Wright-Phillips) were and always will be classified as Chelsea flops.

Looking at the entirety of Chelsea’s squad, they have a few promising players coming through the ranks. Josh McEachran has impressed in his few appearances for the club, alongside Ryan Bertrand, who represented England at U-21 level in the recent European Championships, and Jeffrey Bruma who is currently on loan at Hamburger SV.

Bertrand looks set to replace Ashley Cole at left-back once the former Arsenal player loses some of his energy and barring any purchases from AVB, McEachran could step in after Frank Lampard decides to call it a day. These two or three players, alongside Mata, Mikel and co will be the future of Chelsea in years to come but their academy is not bursting with youngsters and I can see Abramovich having to open his wallet a few more times if they want to renew their squad in years to come. However, with the new Villas-Boas mentality and Chelsea’s search for long-lasting stability at the helm, expect also a new wave of promising 15/16 year old youngsters being transferred from smaller clubs to Chelsea’s youth academy.

Manchester United

Comparing Chelsea’s squad to Manchester United’s is something that everyone has been doing ever since Abramovich arrived in London. Year after year, people have been saying that Manchester United were lacking depth with players such as Michael Owen not being suitable back-up for the many stars at the club whereas Chelsea had Star 1-6 on their bench and the odd youth player to make up 7. This year however, is a completely different story. A few players back from loan and clever money spent early on in the transfer window means that players such as Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand have found themselves on the bench more times than expected.

The retirement of Gary Neville and the departures of John O’Shea and Wes Brown alongside Rio’s injury issues meant that more defensive cover was needed. Sir Alex Ferguson found the perfect combo package in Chris Smalling (21) and Phil Jones (19). Both quick, strong and surprisingly versatile, alongside a (seemingly) brand new Jonny Evans, they provide immense cover for Ferdinand and Vidic. The fact that both Smalling and Jones have been shining out of position at right-back only emphasises the amount of potential these boys have. What is worrying for other clubs is that they are both around 20 and playing well beyond their level of maturity. Who knows how good they will be when they reach 27/28?

The future looks bright for Manchester United

The purchase of De Gea as successor of Dutch legend Edwin van der Sar has been questioned by many around England and even within Manchester. The 6’4″ Spanish keeper had a great past couple of seasons with Atletico Madrid, having played in the UEFA Cup final against Fulham in 2010 which he ultimately won. His start at Manchester United has been described as iffy but, apart from a few dodgy moments in his first couple of games of the season, he has shown his ability by pulling off some world-class saves to keep United from losing valuable points. Along with Anders Lindegaard, Man U have the goalkeeping position covered for the next 10 years or so and the increasing competition for that No.1 spot will be something both keepers will thrive under and will ultimately give Alex Ferguson one of his biggest selection headaches for years to come.

Tom Cleverley. Where do I start? The little midfielder had a great season for Wigan last year and came back to Manchester United expecting to be a bit-part player at the team or maybe even going back on loan for another season. How wrong he was! During the summer transfer window, Ferguson announced that Welbeck and Cleverley would take part in first team duties. Then came the Sneijder saga… Had Sneijder signed, I doubt we would have witnessed this midfielder from Basingstoke’s ability. United fans first really noticed how wonderfully gifted Tom is during the 3-2 victory over Manchester City in the 2011 Community Shield. His skilful assist to feed Nani for United’s second goal capped a wonderful one touch move between 4 players was a sign of things to come. Consistent performances in his next few games earned him praise from Capello and a chance to get a few England caps under his belt in friendlies before Euro 2012. Unfortunately, a foot injury received in the game against Bolton may have shattered hopes of many to see Cleverley in an England shirt alongside teammates Rooney and Ferdinand before the Euros but Tom will unquestionably bounce back from this setback with more great performances to come.

Cleverley was not the only one to come back from a fruitful loan season. Danny Welbeck has shown this year why Sir Alex Ferguson, time and time again, has shown his faith in the youngster from Longsight, Manchester. I remember the first time Danny stepped on a Premier League football pitch for Manchester United.

Not much else to say really. After a successful loan spell at Sunderland, SAF decided that Welbeck had matured enough as a footballer to deserve a place in the Manchester United squad. 5 goals in 8 games so far this season, including 2 in the Champions League show what a bright future the 6’1″ striker has, not only at Old Trafford, but also for England. Only aged 20 and already 2 caps, I would not be surprised if, along with Jones, Smalling and Cleverley, Welbeck was chosen for the provisional, if not final, Euro 2012 squad. I do not expect the Manchester youngsters to start week in, week out for Manchester United but expect to regularly see them on the bench if they are not starting.

The future looks bright for Manchester United. Every position seems to be covered by talented youngsters. Pogba & Macheda will undoubtedly break into the Manchester first team squad in the next few years regularly and players such as Morrison and Cofie will follow a few years after that. The current balance between experience and youth at United is perfect. Players such as Giggs, Ferdinand or Michael Owen will certainly provide daily advice to these youngsters in order to allow them to fulfil their potential.

I think Sir Alex Ferguson, after both defeats against Barcelona, took a good look at how the Catalan club functioned regarding their youth system and has tried to imitate it with, so far, success. Looking at their squad, they have players coming through the ranks every year (Thiago Alcantara, Busquets, Pedro) but also have the experience available (Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol) to mentor and tutor these promising players in order to create a strong team understanding. Maybe those two defeats weren’t for nothing after all…

Arsenal

Youth and potential are two words that are constantly seen hand in hand with Arsenal football club in newspapers. This is beyond shadow of a doubt down to Arsène Wenger. The Frenchman took over the Arsenal reins after having created a Monaco side which comprised Jurgen Klinsmann, George Weah and Youri Djorkaeff. He also nurtured future 1998 World Cup winners Thierry Henry, Emmanuel Petit and Lilian Thuram at the Mediterranean club.

Over the years, Wenger has been credited with playing beautiful attacking football and remains the only manager to lead a team to an undefeated season in 2003-2004 with a team consisting of Henry, Parlour, Ashley Cole, Vieira, Reyes and controversial free signing Sol Campbell.

Those days are long gone for Arsenal fans

However, my title does say Arsenal’s downfall. Regardless of how many trophies Wenger may have won with his previous teams, he has not won one since the FA Cup in the 2004-2005 season. Not that he hasn’t come close. Defeats in the 2006 Champions League final against Barcelona or an embarrassing 2-1 loss to Birmingham in the 2011 League Cup final are memories any Arsenal fans are sure to want to erase from their brains. This lack of trophies has been a great frustration for Arsenal who, ever since 2005, have failed to find the right balance between youth and experience, and in the past 3 years, any experience at all.

Ever since the captaincy was stripped from Gallas and handed over to Fabregas, the club has been going downhill. Gallas brought experience to Arsenal’s defence and ever since that game vs Birmingham, Gallas was never the same. There was no more shouting at other players, no more uplifting words from the former captain. An unhappy player at a team can disrupt everything and Arsenal were right to strip him of the captaincy but arguably, they should not have given it to Fabregas. Yes, Cesc is a great player but he is not a leader and that is what Arsenal have been missing since Gallas. Looking back at the 2009/2010 squad, Arsenal didn’t have any choice but to give the captaincy to Fabregas, however, they should have had more influential players in their squad. Look at Chelsea, they have Terry, Lampard or Cech.

 The lack of experience along with Wenger’s refusal to purchase anyone that doesn’t stil live with their parents has caused the club to go from consistently challenging for the title to fighting for fourth with the likes of Tottenham and a weakened Liverpool. Wenger did not do himself any favours this season by selling both of his star players (Fabregas & Nasri) and not strengthening their squad. Only an 8-2 battering by Manchester United at Old Trafford brought Arsène back to reality and forced him to panic sign on deadline day.

Not exactly scary…

However, Arsenal’s core is still far too weak to compete with the likes of Fletcher, Essien, Vidic or Terry. Koscielny and Djourou along with injury prone Vermaelen were in desperate need of the purchase of Mertesacker who will most probably provide some strength and aerial prowess to their defence whereas Song and Frimpong still need a few more years before becoming the new Vieiras. When looking at the Arsenal teamsheet, the only players I see capable of changing a game are Robin Van Persie and perhaps now Mikel Arteta. Gervinho has so far failed to justify the hype surrounding him and Arshavin looks ready to leave the club at any given opportunity.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling that with the constant growth of Manchester City and Tottenham, along with a rejuvenated Liverpool, Arsenal’s top 4 fight is over. Fighting for the UEFA League spots seems more likely with their current squad. Even Arsenal chief-executive Gazidis has started to resign to the fact that Arsenal will not compete in the Champions League next season by recently stating that a “top-four spot is not vital” for them to compete financially with other English clubs next season. 5 years ago, the thought of Arsenal not playing Champions League football would have been idiotic but with the club in its current state, it seems inevitable.

As far as I can remember, every great successful team has always contained a balanced mixture of youth and experience. With Chelsea’s squad currently ageing and Arsenal’s being too weak and lacking authority and experience, I can only see Manchester City and their bottomless pockets competing with the newly rejuvenated Manchester United.

A (slightly delayed) Match Report: Zenit – Porto

28th of September 2011.

Porto have just travelled 2148 miles from their warm and sunny Portugal to play in the Champions League Group G fixture away to cold and grey St Petersburg. You all know what there is to know about Zenit St Petersburg. If not read my introductory blog post about Футбол in Russia.

Kick off is at 20.00 local time (17.00 GMT). I arrive there accompanied by one of my friends at about 6pm. This is my first football game outside of England, which also happens to be my first Champions League game. I want to be early.

We start off with the compulsory purchase of a scarf. I buy the match scarf with both badges on it, whereas my friend opts for the more traditional Zenit scarf. Then comes the (also compulsory) purchase of a beer (Baltika no7 to be precise). Beer in hand, we happily make our way towards the stadium. Mistake. European Game. No alcohol allowed. 2 policemen kindly tell us to go find a bin, so we duly oblige. 2nd attempt at getting in. A wall of riot police awaits us at the gates. Search no1. Further on, ticket inspection. Search no2. Feeling slightly violated, we both get let in.

Petrovsky stadium is quite a sight. Obviously based on a Roman Colosseum, the stadium is located on an island conveniently called Petrovsky Island., meaning that you have to cross a bridge to get to the main entrance. Originally built in 1924, the stadium has had 2 major facelifts in 1961 and 1994 to reach a capacity of 21504.

When in Rome…

Once in, we wandered around the stadium, soaking in the atmosphere before heading to the entrance of sector 4 where we were sat. At the gate, we were greeted by guess what? Yes, another search.

Finally in the stadium, we located our seats and sat down an hour before kick-off. Thankfully, our eagerness was rewarded with highlights of the previous day’s games (including Manchester United’s 3-3 disappointing draw to Basel) and a (dubious) selection of Champions League’s greatest goals from 1992-2011. Slowly, the stadium started to fill, cigarettes were lit (smoking is allowed in Russian grounds) and a buzz of excitement started to be heard around the stadium 20 minutes before the first home Champions League game for Zenit fans.

The stadium just before kick-off (thanks to the Panorama feature on my new camera)

Just before the game started, the line-ups were announced along with the referee for the game. I normally don’t pay attention to the referee, but when the familiar name of Howard Webb (Havard Vebb in Russian) was announced on the megaphone, I couldn’t help but smile. Porto fielded what appeared to be a full strength squad with Zenit only missing Bruno Alves and Vladimir Bystrov from their side.

5 minutes before kick-off, the teams came out onto the field to the Champions League hymn. Everyone enjoys the CL hymn, but if you haven’t been to a CL game, I recommend you do; just for to hear the hymn in a stadium.

One of the reasons why I was so excited about this game, other than the fact that it was a football game in Russia, is that I would get to see one of my favorite players play: Hulk.

Porto kicked off the game and within minutes they started to dominate. Zenit were a bit surprised by this and unfortunately conceded early in the 10th minute. Good work by Hulk led to a neat cross across the 6 yard box for James Rodriguez to tap in with his right foot at the far post.

Porto’s keeper, Helton, looked surprisingly dodgy. Quickly after the Porto goal, in the 15th minute, a Zenit cross was whipped in from the right and, for some unknown reason, Helton came out and palmed the ball straight into Shirokov’s feet to allow the Russian midfielder to hit the ball into an empty net through Fucile’s legs. Luckily for us, this goal was down our end and Helton’s howler was even better from where we were sat than on the video below.

I cannot describe the roar that erupted from Petrovsky stadium when the ball hit the back of the net. I haven’t heard anything like it. Not even at Old Trafford. People started jumping on their seats, a poor woman in front of us got pushed from side to side, shirts came off, drums were beaten to death and voices were lost. I realised at that point how much Zenit means to its fans.

Shortly after the goal, the Zenit Ultras started singing “Наше имя – Зенит” (Our name – Zenit) which our side of the stadium replied to in a similar manner. It was the first time I had witnessed a football crowd do this. The atmosphere was electric. I managed to capture this chant on my camera for all of you to enjoy

From that point onwards, Zenit picked up the pace and both teams were up for the game. Zenit having lost the previous CL game to Apoel Nicosia meant that this was a must win game for them. Fucile picked up a yellow early on in the first half and in the 43rd minute, unnecessarily handled the ball, leaving Howard Webb no choice but to book him again and send off the left-back.

This led to an action packed last few minutes with Danny inexplicably hitting an easy shot just wide of the post just before good old Howard blows for half-time.

1st half stats..

Half-time in Russia for Zenit fans = Smoking a cigarette whilst watching highlights of the first half.

After 15 mins of shivering in the lovely Russian weather, Zenit came out of the tunnel to a huge roar and round of applause from the entire stadium. Porto are down to 10 men. They know that this is their chance to beat the strongest team in the group.

Zenit kick-off the 2nd half and dominate the game. For the first 15 minutes, we barely saw the ball down our end. Hulk was kept marvellously quiet by an outstanding Domenico Criscito, and the bulky Brazilian started getting frustrated going to ground ever so easily. In the 63rd minute, a Zenit player (Danny if I remember rightly) gets fouled just inside the Porto area. Either this is a very good training ground set-piece or the FK was scuffed, we will never know, but the ball fell straight into Shirokov’s feet who controlled it superbly before half-volleying it past Helton.

If the crowd went wild after equalising, imagine what they did when Zenit went ahead. More shirts came off and a fan was pushed onto the poor woman I mentioned earlier on.

Just to top it all off, Zenit went on to score a 3rd past a deflated Porto, after an incisive breakaway by star player Alexander Kerzhakov who crossed it for Danny to tap in at the far post. The game was sealed in the 72nd minute. Something I found out after I came back to the hotel is that Danny celebrated in a rather controversial way. I will let the video beneath explain what he did exactly.

The score could have been more, as throughout the 2nd half Zenit hit the bar and had a goal disallowed for offside. The score does not justify how much Zenit dominated after half-time. Porto were helpless and even the Incredible Hulk could not come to the rescue of los Dragões. A 35 yard free kick fizzing past the post and another saved by Malafeev were 2 of the 5 shots that Porto had in the 2nd half compared to Zenit’s 12.

As most of you will already know, the game finished 3-1 in Zenit’s favor. The atmosphere after the game was jubilant. Russians were singing all the way home and on our way back, Russians were singing to us Zenit chants as we still had our scarves on.

If any of you decide to go to Russia for any particular reason, I recommend you go watch a football game. The atmosphere is brilliant and the tickets are surprisingly cheap. I payed 1300 roubles (£27) for my Porto ticket, and just today I bought a ticket for the game against Dinamo Moscow on the 15th of October for 700 roubles (£14).

I know this post is quite different to the other ones on this blog but I thought it might be a change for you readers from being bombarded with information. Plus I got to upload some of my own pictures for once. I hope to be able to write another post in a week or so as university work is prioritised at the moment but I promise you that there is more to come. Maybe about Russia, maybe not. Who knows?

EDIT: As most of the Youtube videos were removed by the respective users, here is a video with all the goals from the game.

http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/7319894/zenith_vs_oporto.swf

Zenith Vs Oporto – The most amazing home videos are here

Футбол in Russia: Racism

‘To live anywhere in the world today and be against equality because of race and colour is like living in Alaska and being against snow’
William Faulkner

Strangely enough, writing about this specific topic is not a first for me. During my 2nd year of University, I wrote a 2500 word essay on racism in Russia with article analysis and, unsurprisingly enough, a large chunk of it was on football.

Yes, I do have that particular essay next to me, but I will also include a few incidents that I haven’t already written about. Then you can’t feel cheated that I haven’t done any research for this piece.

Racism is a concept which has existed for thousands of years. The Egyptians driving the Hebrews out of their country, the Irish famine wars, World War II, South African Apartheid, the Rosa Parks bus incident…

Now I’m not saying that it is that bad in Russia but it still is an everyday problem. With the 2018 World Cup coming up, Russia, of all the countries in Europe, needs to work towards eradicating the growing amount of racist comments and acts directed towards players of a different race the most.

These issues can cause repercussions outside of the country to such an extent, that one affected the Barclays Premier League directly. On the 20th of August 2010, Peter Odemwingie left Lokomotiv Moscow after 3 years of service and 21 goals in 75 appearances to join newly promoted West Bromwich Albion. The next day, on his debut, he scored the winning goal against Sunderland. Everything seemed to be going pretty well. However, back in Russia, Lokomotiv fans were preparing something which should be classified as an incredibly distasteful joke. During the next Lokomotiv game, Russian fans displayed a banner with the words “Thanks West Brom” and a banana in the middle.

Read what you will into that banner but it is pretty clear what these tasteless fans and their banner are trying to say. The incident caused a massive shock in Russia, especially as Peter Odemwingie owns a Russian passport and is officially a Russian citizen.

Peter did hit back at the fans, claiming that not everyone in Russia is like this but that unfortunately, there are narrow minded fans and the fact that racism is so openly displayed in Russia is rather sickening. Good on him. It is. But something which is equally as worrying is what a spokesman to the Russian Embassy in London had to say on the matter: “So far we don’t see any reasons to dramatise this, since in Russian student slang “to get a banana” means to fail a test. Odemwingie was seen by many fans in Moscow as not perhaps the best performer. But it’s their own judgment.”

Somehow, I think he was trying to defend the ongoing bid for the 2018 World Cup, which Russia ultimately won.

Following all of this, West Brom replied in a way that made me, and I’m sure a lot of other people, smile. On the 10th of September 2010, for the West Brom – Tottenham game, the club retaliated by posting up a banner which mimicked the Lokomotiv banner, but with a picture of Odemwingie celebrating his debut goal against Sunderland.

I especially like the Russian translation underneath for those “narrow-minded” fans

Unfortunately, this is not the only incident of this kind to come out of Russia and reach European news.

On the 21st of March 2011,  a Zenit St-Petersburg fan appeared to try and hand Roberto Carlos a banana from the stands during the traditional raising of the Russian flag at the beginning of the game. This again caused a huge outrage within the Russian football community. As with every nation, the majority are not racist. Only these select few idiots think it is alright to perform these acts. Zenit were fined 300,000 roubles (approx. £6,000) for the incident after points deduction were ruled out by the Russian Football Federation.

Straight after the game, Zenit came out and said that they knew exactly who the troublemaker was and that they would divulge his identity with the police. They did. However, after the investigation had taken place, sports.ru learned that: ”The interrogated man said that during the flag-raising before the match, he decided to eat a banana, brought in before, but at this moment the crowd pressed him to fences, and therefore he had to stick his hand through the bars not to crush a banana. He was not holding out a banana in the direction of R. Carlos da Silva personally. The fan did not express nationalistic or racist slogans, as evidenced by witnesses.”

I don’t believe that for one second.

How convenient that the banana is above Roberto Carlos’ head

This is not the only incident involving Roberto Carlos and a banana. On the 22nd of June 2011, during a game against Kryliya Sovetov, a banana was thrown from the stands at the Brazilian veteran (38) just as he was about to pass the ball to one of his teammates. Carlos picked up the banana and threw it off the pitch before walking off the field, not before demonstrating to the fans that this was the second time this had happened by raising up two fingers to the crowd. The entire incident can be viewed here.

The fact that this has happened twice to the same player is something that the authorities need to deal with. However, I can understand how difficult this can be. You can easily take away a flare from a supporter at the gates, but you can’t exactly take away a banana.

Russia needs to sort this problem out ASAP. There were already doubts surrounding their 2018 World Cup bid, and now they have the opportunity to host one of the biggest sporting events, the matter has become more critical than ever.

Regrettably, Russia is not the only country where this is happening. Spain also have a bad reputation surrounding the concept of racism; players like Marcelo get targeted on a regular basis. Italy aren’t great either. This is something which needs to stop. I don’t want to sound too much like a peace-maker but, to a certain degree, racism is ruining The Game which we all call “Beautiful”.