With every team having played two Premiership fixtures between Thursday and Sunday, all the clubs have now played 19 of their 38 matches, making this the half-way point of the season.  To review last week’s action and preview the New Year’s Day games, for this post I am going to go through the teams in the order in which they currently stand in the Premiership table.

1. Arsenal – 42 points

On Boxing Day, Arsenal made the short trip to east London to face West Ham and recovered from a goal down early in the second-half to come away with a 3-1 victory, with two goals from Theo Walcott and another from Lukas Podolski, returning to the fray after an injury had kept him out since the end of August.  On Sunday, the Gunners maintained their position at the top of the table with a 1-0 away win against Newcastle, with Oliver Giroud netting his 11th goal of the season, but the French striker is expected to miss the New Year’s Day visit of Cardiff due to injury, as are Mesut Özil, Aaron Ramsey and Kieran Gibbs.

2. Manchester City – 41 points

With two home fixtures over the festive period, it was somewhat inevitable that City would pick up six points and maintain their 100% Premiership record at the Etihad this season, though both of their wins were far from easy.  Against Liverpool, they fell behind to a Phillipe Coutinho goal, but were ahead by half-time thanks to Vincent Kompany and Alvaro Negredo, then managed to hold on for the victory despite substantial pressure from the visitors.  Last Saturday in their match with Crystal Palace, Manuel Pelligirini’s men were kept at bay until Edin Dzeko broke the deadlock in the 66th minute for the only goal of the game, the first time all season that City have scored less than twice at home.  They were also somewhat fortunate to stop Palace from scoring in that match, since Cameron Jerome collided with Joe Hart in the first half, leaving the England keeper with restricted vision due to a cut around his eye, but he managed to see well enough to stop Tony Pulis’ men from getting past him.  On January 1st, City will leave the comforts of Manchester to head to south Wales for a match with Swansea, a fixture in which they were held to a draw last season.

3. Chelsea – 40 points

Chelsea were far from their best in both their Boxing Day encounter with Swansea, and their match with Liverpool three days later, yet on both occasions they did enough to pick up the three points and are now just two points off the leaders in the Premiership.  Eden Hazard scored the only goal of the game against the Welsh club, then it was his brilliant strike on Sunday that wiped out Liverpool’s early lead, with Samuel Eto’o getting the winner in the 34th minute.  Chelsea will see in 2014 with a trip to Southampton, a fixture they lost 2-1 last season.

4. Everton – 37 points

There is a danger for the clubs from Everton on down that the title race could soon become a three-horse race, as a three-point gap now exists between the Toffees and third place Chelsea.  The reason for that deficit is that on Boxing Day, Everton lost at home for the first time in 2013 as they were beaten 1-0 by the bottom club, Sunderland.  There were mitigating circumstances to the loss however, as goalkeeper Tim Howard was sent off in the 22nd minute for a professional foul on Ki, who converted the penalty, and the Black Cats were able to hold onto their slim lead against 10 men for the remainder of the match.  Normal order at Goodison Park was restored on Sunday, as Everton beat Southampton 2-1 thanks to a 74th minute winner by Romelu Lukaku, which moved them up into the Champions League qualification places.  Roberto Martinez’s men, who travel to Stoke on New Year’s Day, look like contenders for a top four finish, though they probably do not have a strong enough squad to maintain a challenge for the Premiership crown. Continue reading →

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, as the Premiership has three round of fixtures between December 26th and January 1st, followed by the third round of the F.A. Cup in the first weekend of the New Year.  With such a busy festive period, clubs have the opportunity to make their move up the table; can find themselves drop out of contention in the title race; or for some, drift closer towards relegation out of the top division.  This year, it is a particularly crucial time for those competing for the Premiership crown, since the top five teams are currently separated by two points and the current leaders, Liverpool, face the teams in 3rd (Manchester City) and 4th (Chelsea) inside three days.

The Reds reached the top of the Premiership table on the back of more brilliance from Luis Suarez, who had two goals and an assist – which entailed him giving up an easy chance to allow Rahim Sterling to finish into an empty net – in their 3-1 win over Cardiff at Anfield.  Incredibly, that takes the Uruguayans tally for the season to 19 goals and we are not even at the half-way point, meaning he is on target not only to break the scoring record for most in a 38 game Premiership season (held jointly by Alan Shearer and Cristiano Ronaldo, who found the net 31 times apiece in the 1995/6 and 2007/8 seasons respectively) but also the mark of 34 set by Andrew Cole (1993/4) and Shearer (1994/5) back when there were 42 fixtures in each campaign.  What makes this all the more remarkable is that even though Liverpool have had 17 league matches this season, Suarez was suspended for the first five and thus has managed his 19 goals in just 12 games – I’m not saying I was wrong to make Gareth Bale the most valuable player in the Premiership back in January – and the transfer fee he commanded and subsequent performances for Tottenham and  Real Madrid justified that selection – but since the Welshman has departed, there is no question of who is now number one and Brendan Rodgers will be relieved that his star man has signed a new contract with the club.  Following their defeat to Liverpool, there was some good news for Cardiff supporters, who had shown their support for their manager throughout the game and afterwards, the ultimatum that owner Vincent Tan had put on Malky Mackay – that he should resign or be sacked – was lifted and it appears the Scotsman will remain in charge of the Welsh club at least for the time being.

On Monday night, Arsenal had the opportunity to move back to the top of the Premiership, but instead had to settle for second place on goal difference after they were held to a goalless draw by Chelsea at the Emirates.  The match was so bad that I do not want to dwell on it too much, but Arsenal had a strong case for a penalty in the first half when Theo Walcott was felled in the box by Willian, in a move that came straight after a bad foul on Mikel Arteta that could have seen John Obi-Mikel sent off, but instead went unpunished by referee Mike Dean.  Jose Mourinho – who remains unbeaten in ten meetings with Arsene Wenger – had set up his side to be tough to break down and their resilience earned them both a point and the ire of the home crowd, who were chanting “Boring Boring Chelsea” in the final few minutes.  To be honest, neither side really went for the other and at the end of it, it felt like 90 minutes I could have better spent doing anything other than watching that game.

At the opposite end of the excitement stakes were the matches at Fulham and Southampton over the weekend, which saw a total of 11 games between them.  At Craven Cottage, the home side were beaten 4-2 by Manchester City, but only after they had made a contest of it by recovering from 2-0 down to bring the scores level heading into the final 20 minutes.  However, strikes by Jesus Navas and James Milner ensured that City moved to within a point of the leaders in the Premiership, with two fixtures at the Etihad – where they still boast a 100% record this season – coming up next.  At St. Mary’s, Southampton faced a Tottenham side being led by Tim Sherwood in his first experience being in charge of a top-flight league match and it was the Saints who struck first, as Adam Lallana turned and shot from 25 yards and found the bottom corner.  However, Sherwood had restored Emmanuel Adebayor to the starting lineup and had him playing alongside Roberto Soldado in a very attacking Spurs lineup that also featured Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Mousa Dembélé, with the forward-focused Belgian nominally being used as a defensive midfielder.  It was Adebayor who made the biggest impression however, as he was scored an equalizer by converting a fantastic cross by Soldado, who had been played into space on the flank by the Togolese striker and, after the two sides had traded goals at the start of the second-half, it was Adebayor who scored the winner for Tottenham, picking up a loose ball in the area and stroking the ball into the Southampton net.  Following that win, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy made the decision to appoint Sherwood as manager on an 18 month contract, taking him up until the end of the 2014/15 season, though the feeling must be that if he fails to perform over the remainder of this campaign, there will be yet another new man in the dugout at White Hart Lane next August. Continue reading →

I try to have a look at job websites at least once a week – just in case that dream opportunity comes up – and recently there have been some eye-catching openings at a managerial level in various places across the UK.  Here’s the most recent one:

North London club seeking to restore former glories, or at least make it into the top four so that the shareholders will make more money from Champions League revenues (hint, this is the only measure of performance we will be using).  Position is available for a maximum of two years and your staff will be changed twice a year, with your best asset being removed once every August, yet we expect you to improve nonetheless.  Buck-passers need not apply.

As was covered in my post on Monday, Tottenham’s board decided that following the 5-0 loss to Liverpool at White Hart Lane last Sunday, it was time to axe Andre Villas-Boas and look for an 11th manager in the last twenty years.  While I covered his departure, I did not talk too much about the game, which saw Luis Suarez score twice to take his tally to 17 goals in 11 Premiership goals this term, two more than the entire Spurs squad had managed in their 16 fixtures.  Jordan Henderson, Jon Flanagan and Rahim Sterling also found the net in a match that saw AVB’s final team ran ragged by a side who could exploit the high line of defense that was deployed, especially since Etienne Capoue – naturally a holding midfielder – was one of the two centre backs.  Tottenham were not helped by the sending off of Paulinho when the score was 2-0 for a high tackle on Suarez, but they already looked like a beaten side before they were at a numerical disadvantage.

On Wednesday, Tim Sherwood took charge of Spurs for his first experience of professional management and he was clearly intent on setting himself out as being the anti-Villas-Boas, using traditional English tactics of 4-4-2 and putting Lennon and Townsend on the wings, telling them to run at the defenders and utilizing a high-tempo style of play.  Up front, Sherwood opted for Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor, the latter of whom had played only 45 minutes of football this season as he had fallen out of favor with AVB.  While that decision may appear to have paid off for the interim manager – Adebayor scored a cracking goal to give Tottenham the lead, stylishly finishing off a cross from Defoe – the overall tactics Sherwood used were rudimentary and lacking any sort of guile, not to mention that it did not suit the players he had his disposal.  In a 4-4-2 system, it is necessary to have two strong players in the middle of the pitch, with the more attacking players deployed on the wings, but with Sandro and Paulinho out due to injury and suspension respectively, Mousa Dembélé – who fits the bill – lined up alongside Gylfi Sigurdsson, a player who is much more effective when he lines up either on the left flank or behind a main striker.  While Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela have not found immediate success since their big money transfers, they still could have been viable options to line up behind either Defoe or Adebayor to link the play up between the midfield and attack.  As it was, just like the possession-focused approach of AVB, Sherwood’s team only had one tactic: get the ball to either Lennon or Townsend on the wing and send some crosses into the box.  One-dimenstional football, no matter what form that takes, will always be stymied by an opponent is able to adapt and that is exactly what Sam Allardyce got his troops to do, making them full value for their 2-1 victory and their second win of the season at White Hart Lane.

Tim Sherwood clearly proved he is not Andre Villas-Boas, but he also provided enough evidence in 90 minutes that he is not the man who should be in the dugout at Tottenham on a permanent basis.  However, former Spurs boss Glenn Hoddle let it be known through a website he co-founded (Zapsportz.com) that he is available should the powers that be at White Hart Lane come knocking, so I am doing the same – if they want to give me a call, I will be willing to give them some advice.  Actually – here’s some for free, this is the line-up that should be starting for Tottenham if everyone is fit:

System: 4-2-3-1 (with the full-backs overlapping on the wings)

GK: Hugo Lloris

RB: Kyle Walker

CB: Jan Vertonghen

CB: Vlad Chiriches

LB: Danny Rose

CM: Sandro

CM: Paulinho

LW: Gylfi Sigurdsson

RW: Aaron Lennon

AM: Christian Eriksen

ST: Jermain Defoe

Subs: Brad Friedel; Younes Kaboul; Erik Lamela; Mousa Dembélé; Lewis Holtby; Etienne Capoue; Roberto Soldado

Sorry Andros Townsend (who will be out for around four weeks with a hamstring injury he picked up against the Hammers), but shooting all the time and not providing a single assist all season, while scoring only once from a huge deflection, is not good enough to even make the bench with the players available.  Michael Dawson has been a great servant to the club, but he is too slow and vulnerable to quick, skillful strikers so would not make it ahead of the other three centre-backs.  Capoue is the hardest player to leave out of the starting XI of those on the bench (plus Holtby, whom I really enjoy watching for his enthusiasm and fantastic passing ability) but the pairing of Sandro and Paulinho has been one of the better parts of Tottenham’s campaign thus far.  So there you go Spurs, references are available upon request.

Continue reading →

On Sunday, Tottenham capitulated for the second time in five Premier League matches to be on the wrong end of a heavy defeat, this time losing 5-0 to Liverpool, just a few weeks after their 6-0 thrashing at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City.  It was the final straw for the Spurs board, who took the decision to fire manager Andre Villas-Boas on Monday in response to the poor performances.  As a Tottenham fan, I have been heavily conflicted about this (admittedly completely predictable) move by Daniel Levy. Let’s start with the reasons I think it is short-sighted and ridiculous:

• Tottenham have changed their manager so many times in the last twenty years, that my most worn out line is that they have had more false dawns than Truman Burbank.  Since 1993, the men to have been permanently (though that has a different meaning at White Hart Lane) in charge at Spurs are: Osvaldo Ardiles; Gerry Francis; Christian Gross; Man in a Raincoat; Glenn Hoddle; Jacques Santini; Martin Jol; Juande Ramos; Harry Redknapp and Andre Villas-Boas.  That’s ten, making of an average of one every two years, with an 11th to be appointed sometime soon (you would assume) and not even counting David Pleat, who has had three spells as caretaker boss including an extended period following Hoddle’s dismissal in 2003.  Do we really need to start rebuilding again?
• Yes, a lot of money was spent in the summer (£110.5m), but the net outlay that Tottenham made was one of the lowest in the Premiership thanks to the money that came back in the selling of several players, but mainly Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for £86m.  Also, AVB was not in charge of player recruitment this summer (that job went to the new Director of Football, Frances Baldini) and the club was left in a position where they have numerous options in midfield (Sandro, Paulinho, Mousa Dembélé, Etienne Capoue, Aaron Lennon, Andros Townsend, Nacer Chadli, Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Lewis Holtby and Gylfi Sigurdsson), while in central defence, only Michael Dawson, Younes Kaboul, Vlad Chiriches and Jan Vertonghen are at the manager’s disposal.  Not only that, but Vertonghen as been forced to fill-in at left-back for much of the season due to an injury to the only other senior player who can lineup there (Danny Rose, who himself is a converted midfielder) and the lack of depth at centre-back was exposed by Liverpool on Sunday, who took advantage of Capoue’s inexperience in the position.
• Spurs have sold one of their best assets many times in the last few years (Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale – even Robbie Keane was at the top of his game when he moved to Liverpool for more than £20m), blamed the manager for not progressing after those players have been sold, then started the process all over again with a new man in charge.
• In 2012/13, Villas-Boas led Spurs to their highest ever Premiership points total (72). After 16 games of that campaign, we had 26 points – at the same stage this season, we have 27 points.  Heavy defeats to Liverpool and Manchester City are not good – in fact, the trouble really started with the 3-0 loss to West Ham at the Lane, which is much less excusable – but it was not like Tottenham were in a completely terrible position despite those results. He also had the best win percentage of any Spurs boss in the Premiership era.
• In the Europa League and League Cup – our two main chances at a trophy, particularly after being drawn away at Arsenal in the third round of the FA Cup – progress has been good.  Spurs rank as one of the favorites for the Europa League, while on Wednesday, there is a chance to atone for the home loss to West Ham when they return for the League Cup quarter-final.  Now, Steffan Freund will be in charge for that match and who knows what kind of job he will do – if it is anything like his playing performances for the club, expect lots of strong challenges and wild, off-target shooting. Continue reading →

Premiership Roundup

Last weekend, Newcastle United gained their fourth away win of the season, securing the victory thanks to a goal by Yohan Cabaye that saw Alan Pardew’s side move up to seventh in the Premiership, just three points behind the top four.  In the match, Newcastle enjoyed the majority of the possession and had more shots than their opponents, but the majority of the attention surrounding the result went to the team they beat – just because it was Manchester United.  (Prepare yourself for me to completely ignore what I have written and completely focus on the Red Devils for the rest of the paragraph).  The loss for United was their second at home within the space of four days, after they had gone down by the same 1-0 scoreline to Everton last Wednesday, and that was their third loss of the year at Old Trafford – the total they suffered all of last season and as many as they have had in a single campaign since 2001/2, when they had six and finished third in the league.  Such a final position would probably be something that David Moyes would accept right now in his first year in charge at the reigning champions, as they currently languish in ninth place and are 13 points behind the leaders, Arsenal; seven off the Champions League spots; and only nine above the relegation zone.  Against Newcastle, they clearly missed Wayne Rooney who was out due to suspension having received five yellow cards this season; but over the last few weeks the absence they have really felt is Michael Carrick in the midfield.  Without Carrick’s steady passing and calming influence in front of the back four, United have looked vulnerable and have been forced to play Phil Jones and Tom Cleverley in the centre of the park, neither of whom look good enough to be first-choice midfielders for the reigning champions.  The title race is almost certainly beyond Manchester United this season (though like Germany, you write them off at your own peril), but what they should be most concerned about for now is this Saturday’s trip to Villa Park – a ground they have not lost in the Premiership on since 1996, but then Everton and Newcastle had not won at Old Trafford since 1992 and 1972 respectively – because if they do lose, then they will be level on points with Aston Villa, a team that only narrowly avoided relegation last term.

At the top of the table, Arsenal extended their lead to five points despite being held to a draw at the Emirates by Everton, who quickly recovered from Mesut Özil’s 79th minute goal to get an equalizer through Gerard Deulofeu four minutes later.  The reason that the Gunners gained an extra point cushion over second place was because Chelsea, who had begun the weekend in the runners-up spot, were beaten 3-2 away at Stoke thanks to a strong substitute performance from Stephen Ireland and a cracking winner scored by Oussama Assaidi, currently on loan at the Britannia Stadium from Liverpool.  Assaidi’s goal helped his parent club leap-frog Chelsea in the table, as they moved ahead on goal difference thanks to a 4-1 win at Anfield over West Ham, during which Luis Suarez scored another brace and in their last four home matches, Liverpool have now found the net on seventeen occasions.  A further point back behind in fourth in the Premiership are Manchester City, who drew away at Southampton last Saturday after Sergio Aguero’s early strike was cancelled out by a spectacular goal by Dani Osvaldo.

Elsewhere last weekend, Spurs picked up their second consecutive 2-1 away win, this time beating Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, but they should have put the game beyond doubt in the second half and were lucky not to concede a penalty when Sandro blocked a cross with his arm; Crystal Palace picked up their third win in four fixtures, this time defeating Cardiff 2-0 at Selhurst Park, which included another goal for Marouane Chamakh, who has scored three times in the Premiership this season from a total of four shots; Norwich soaked up a lot of pressure from West Brom and were able to pick them off to get a vital 2-0 away win; Fulham gained their first victory since October 21st, beating Aston Villa 2-0 as they continued to look better under the management of Rene Meulensteen than they did at the end of the Martin Jol era; and on Monday night, Danny Graham scored his first goal in 30 games against his old club, Swansea, but the Welsh side earned a point against Hull when Chico turned a cross from Jonjo Shelvey into the net. Continue reading →

World Cup Draw

Today, the draw was made for the next World Cup that is going to be played in Brazil in 2014.  Well, that is, it will be played in Brazil assuming the stadia are all completed as reports suggest they are far behind, plus there are ongoing protests about the expense of hosting the tournament that is being funded primarily with public money.  And it is being contested in 2014, assuming the fringe group of “academics” who think that the years 600 C.E. – 900 C.E. did not actually happen are wrong and there wasn’t a moving forward of the calendar by 300 years to make certain empires appear to have had more longevity than they really enjoyed.  Not that it actually matters whether next year is 2014 C.E. or 1714 C.E – the earth is more than 4.5 billion years old anyway – the main thing is the World Cup is going to be contested, somewhere, almost certainly in Brazil, next June. Before that, there is still more than half a season to go in the European leagues which could see crucial players get injured and others hit or lose form.  Here are some quick initial thoughts on the draw, plus my early prediction for how the tournament will play out.

• Spain face Netherlands in their first match, a repeat of the 2010 World Cup Final which was ill-tempered and saw the Spanish win in extra-time thanks to a goal by Andreas Iniesta.
• The USA will face Germany, the nation for whom Jürgen Klinsmann, USA’s manager, played for in the 1990, 1994 and 1998 World Cups, scoring 11 goals in the process, then he coached the team in their home tournament in 2006.  The United States also face Ghana, who knocked them out in the Round of 16 in 2010, plus Portugal, who have one of the two best players in the world in the form of Cristiano Ronaldo.
• England also face a tough group: Uruguay – who have Luis Suarez, the top scorer in the Premiership despite having missed the first five games of the season; Italy and Costa Rica, who will be more comfortable with the suffocating heat of the Amazon region where Group D fixtures will be played and the Mayor of Manaus reacted badly to Roy Hodgson saying that he hoped England would not be drawn there, stating that they would not be welcome.
• France were on the brink of elimination during the playoffs, having lost 2-0 in the Ukraine, but their 3-0 victory in Paris has seen them rewarded with a weak-looking group: Switzerland, Honduras and Ecuador.
• Brazil’s progress to the knockout stages should not be difficult (Croatia, Cameroon and the worst Mexico team of the last 20 years), but they would then face someone from the Spain/Chile/Netherlands/Australia group in the Round of 16, far from an easy task (unless the Aussies make it through).
• Always a couple of first round games that make you relieved that you do not feel bad skipping during the relentless first three weeks when all you seem to be doing is watching football: 2014 candidates to avoid – Japan vs Greece; Iran vs Bosnia Herzegovina; Algeria vs South Korea.
• N.B. I will probably watch and enjoy all three of those games I just listed… Continue reading →