What if “ludicrous” Premier League ends with same top four?

January 21, 2010

We’ve had some knockabout fun in the Premier League this season, no question, but for all those eager for a change to the established order the table is taking on an all too familiar look.

Best Premier league season ever? It looked like we were heading that way, thanks to Liverpool’s flabbergastingly bad form, United’s post-Portuguese predicament, Chelsea’s baffling inconsistency and Arsenal’s eerie ability to conjure defeats and draws from matches they should have walked. William Hill even announced that the series of upsets involving the Big Four had helped them restore their profit margins at the expense of punters.

But with 16 or 17 matches left to go, look at the table now. For all their ragged performances, Arsenal, Chelsea and United have pulled away at the top, and even Liverpool, desperate, woeful Liverpool, are a point off fourth place having won three and drawn one of their last four. Arsene Wenger says it’s ludicrous that his team are back at the top, but really it’s anything but.

The problem, I think, is that in their eagerness to sell the story of financial woe at Manchester United and Liverpool, the media have exaggerated the decline of the two teams on the field.

Liverpool have had a terrible season so far, everyone agrees, yet they are only three points down from where they were after 22 games in both the 2006-07 and 2007-08 campaigns. The domestic blip, in fact, was last season’s abnormally strong challenge for the title.

Meanwhile, the Guardian screams in a headline of Manchester United’s decline, yet third place, a point off the top, and easy qualification for the Champions League knock-out phase shows the situation is not so dire.

So will it matter if the top four at the end of the season is, say, Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool? Will the few heady months of surprises have been enough for those desperate for a new twist to the all too familiar tale?

Or does English football need City, Villa, Spurs et al to actually challenge for the title? There’s no evidence of that sort of shift happening just yet.

PHOTO: Arsenal’s Tomas Rosicky celebrates his goal against Bolton during their Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium in London, Jan. 20, 2010. REUTERS/ Eddie Keogh

Source

Tags: arsene wenger, campaigns, champions league, CHELSEA, CITY, decline, eagerness, Eddie Keogh, Emirates Stadium, english football, inconsistency, knock out, Liverpool, london, Manchester, manchester united, new twist, predicament, premier league, profit margins, punters, surprises, tomas rosicky, United, William Hill, woe

Zarate not happy at Lazio

November 12, 2009

S.S. Lazio’s Mauro Zarate is least happy with the way things are shaping up for the Stadio Olimpico tennants.

Zarate’s brother Sergio, a former football player himself and Mauro’s agent, admits that the striker was not expecting a relegation battle.

Zarate spent last season on loan at Lazio, netting 13 goals in 35 appearances in the Serie A.

He considered his options, before accepting to sign a permanent deal at the Stadio Olimpico from Qatar’s Al-Sadd.

However, Lazio have endured a poor start to the season, and are currently 16th in Serie A.

And their current predicament is not sitting well with Zarate, according to his brother.

“Mauro isn’t happy at Lazio, he didn’t expect that he was going to have to fight with the team for avoiding the relegation,” Zarate said.

“The president had said to us that he had built a team for the Champions League but then he didn’t do anything for making it improve.

“In correct moment we will analyze if the conditions for staying exist or if we accept one of the offers that the president will receive.”

But the 22-year-old has also caused some controversy in Italy by claiming the Italian Football Association (FIGC) have made enquiries about the striker possibly switching allegiances from his native Argentina.

Zarate. who has an Italian passport, is not in the plans of Diego Maradona.

“A board member of the Italian Federation got in touch with us,” the player’s brother is quoted as saying.

“So if Maradona doesn’t call Mauro we will have to consider this proposal.”

However, the FIGC chief Giancarlo Abete has rejected the claims.

“I read about that this morning, and to say that I was astounded would be an understatement,” he is quoted as saying by Datasport.

“It is the first time that I have heard of something like this and I am curious to know which person in the federation has contacted Zarate’s brother.”

Abhimanyu Rajput

Tags: A. And, A. He, al sadd, allegiances, Argentina, board member, diego maradona, FIGC, football association, football player, giancarlo abete, italian federation, italian football, italian passport, Italy, mauro, Mauro Zarate, native argentina, predicament, Qatar, relegation battle, s s lazio, Sergio, stadio olimpico, striker, understatement

Mixed fortunes for Juventus, Milan

September 15, 2009

Italian giants AC Milan and Juventus head into the opening week of the Champions League group stages in vastly different moods.

Serie A pacesetters Juve host French champions Bordeaux while Milan face a daunting trip to Marseille, now coached by former Juve midfielder Didier Deschamps.

Milan have good reason to be worried and not just because the French giants have begun their Ligue 1 season well.

The Italians, seven-time European champions, are a team in trouble.

There were ominous signs in pre-season when they lost eight matches out of 11 and although they opened their Serie A campaign with a 2-1 win at Siena, that proved a false dawn.

Milan were then thrashed 4-0 by Inter in their city derby and followed that up with a fortuitous 0-0 draw at promoted Livorno.

Perhaps even more worryingly, though, is that rookie coach Leonardo seems oblivious to his team’s current predicament.

“Now it’s time for Marseille, a team that I know well from my time as a player and who Milan also know well,” he said.

“It’s great when you get matches between two teams, such as ours and the French, with so much history and tradition. We’re very fired up.”

Enthusiasm, though, is not what Milan need, what they need is to start playing well.

Their defence is vulnerable and their attack misfiring, although Deschamps does not want to get too carried away.

“People have to stop saying (Milan are vulnerable). We’re going to have a great team against us with talented international players who are used to these types of matches,” he said.

“It doesn’t make me smile when I hear people say this Milan team isn’t very good. Milan are still Milan.

“You can go through their team one by one, these are international players who are programmed to go far.”

History is not on Marseille’s side as this is a team that have not reached the knock-out stages of this competition since winning the inaugural Champions League in 1993, beating Milan 1-0 in the final.

Milan last won this competition in 2007 and reached the final in 2005 but in their most recent challenge in 2007/08 they went out in the first knock-out stage, beaten by Arsenal.

Things couldn’t be more different for Juventus on the home front as they have won their first three matches and sit top of the table.

New Brazilian signing Diego has also been a revelation, starring in the 3-1 victory at AS Roma a couple of weeks ago.

But he will miss the visit of Bordeaux with a muscle problem picked up during Saturday’s 2-0 win at Lazio.

Until they were relegated to Serie B for match-fixing in 2006, and stripped of two titles, Juve had been the dominant team in Italy for the previous 15 years.

Even without Diego, they can fall back on young Italian prospect Sebastian Giovinco, who shone after replacing the Brazilian on Saturday.

“This Juventus team can go all the way in both the league and in Europe,” he insisted.

Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc is aware his team is going to have to take their game to the next level if they are to enjoy any success in Turin.

“The staff, the team and the players know that if we want to take anything away from Turin we’re going to have to raise our game, take more risks, try more things and be more disciplined on the pitch,” he said.

Bordeaux will be hoping to do better against Italian opposition than they did last season when Roma beat them home and away.

Juve topped a group including Real Madrid last time out but then fell to Chelsea in the first knock-out round.

ROME (AFP)

Tags: ac milan, Bordeaux, champions league group, CHELSEA, didier deschamps, Diego, Europe, european champions, false dawn, good reason, group stages, italians, Italy, juventus, knock out, laurent blanc, lazio, leonardo, Ligue 1, livorno, MADRID, Marseille, Milan, milan team, moods, ominous signs, pacesetters, predicament, Roma, ROME, rookie coach, sebastian giovinco, Siena, turin

Ferguson cool on transfer talk

August 21, 2009

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has confirmed he will not venture into the transfer market this month despite a new injury setback for Rio Ferdinand and his club’s current lack of goal scoring form.

Ferdinand will be out for up to a month after the latest examination of the thigh he injured in training last Saturday – news which will also come as a blow to England manager Fabio Capello.

The latest time frame – double initial predictions – puts the veteran United star out of Capello’s squad for England’s friendly against Slovenia and crucial World Cup qualifier against Croatia at the start of next month.

It also adds to the injury problems that have plagued United’s defence in the pre-season and the first two games of their title defence.

Ferguson can, at least, call upon Gary Neville, a substitute in the surprise midweek defeat at Burnley, and Nemanja Vidic for the weekend game with Wigan although it is a sign of Ferguson’s current predicament that he is prepared to throw Vidic into the fray despite no match action since injuring a calf in pre-season

“It has been established Rio will be out three to four week,” said Ferguson.

“Experience is important and the kind of experience that Gary Neville would bring is obviously great experience.

“And Vidic’s performance levels since he has been with us have been outstanding. You always want that in your team and we’ve got that back tomorrow.”

United’s start to their attempt to win a fourth consecutive Premier League title has been far from convincing with one goal and three points from games against newly-promoted Birmingham and Burnley.

Yet Ferguson, who is constantly second guessed because of his failure to sign an obvious, big-name replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo this summer, insists he has faith in his existing squad and does not feel the need to add to it before the window closes in ten days.

“I have made the point, this is a good group of players,” said Ferguson. “We have dominated the last two games of football although we would have liked to have scored more goals.

“Our ratio of goals last season dropped for the first time, it was our poorest for 15 years in terms of goal difference.

“That was the issue last year and it’s going to be the issue this year unless we step up to the mark. I think we can do that. We can win games alright, this is a good squad of players.”

Ferguson has taken heart from history and his team’s traditional slow starts to campaigns. But he is all too aware that United cannot afford too many more errors if they are to win the Premiership title for a record fourth consecutive year.

He added: “You can be philosophical if you like but, at the end of the day, there is a certain reality.

“And the reality is we can’t lose too many games in this league and we’ve already lost one.”

MANCHESTER, England (AFP)

Tags: alex ferguson, back tomorrow, Birmingham, burnley, cristiano ronaldo, croatia, England, england manager, fabio capello, Ferdinand, gary neville, initial predictions, last saturday, manager alex ferguson, Manchester, manchester united, performance levels, predicament, premier league, rio ferdinand, ronaldo, saturday news, title defence, vidic, weekend game, Wigan, world cup qualifier

Don´t panic, Pienaar tells struggling South Africa

June 15, 2009

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Don’t panic. That was the the message Everton playmaker Steven Pienaar had for his teammates after South Africa’s disappointing start to the Confederations Cup.

The midfielder who played a central role in his Premier League side’s run to the FA Cup final, was sorely missed in Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Iraq, ill health keeping him on the bench until the last five minutes.

The result has left the Confed Cup hosts in a hole of their own making – they need to take all three points in their next Group A game against New Zealand on Wednesday to keep them in the race for the semi-finals.

The good news for coach Joel Santana and Bafana Bafana’s fans is that Pienaar has recovered from his ailment and is expected to start in Rustenburg where his creative expertise will be warmly welcomed.

Assessing the hosts’ predicament in this warm up to next year’s World Cup the 27-year-old told fifa.com: “We are definitely disappointed because we expected a lot from this game (against Iraq).

“If you can get three points in the opening game, it normally takes a lot of pressure off a team.

“Now we have our backs against the wall. But we just have to stay focused and there’s still two games, so we’ll have to give everything then.”

He conceded South Africa had been poor in the first half against the well organised 2007 Asian Cup champions.

“It was difficult for the guys to break them down,” he said.

“We knew the first game was going to be difficult, everyone was expecting a win, so we’re just disappointed now. But I’m glad it’s over now and we can look forward to the next game, hopefully a bit more relaxed.”

Turning to his own level of readiness for Wednesday’s encounter with the All Whites Pienaar reported: “I was ill the whole week, that’s why I started on the bench. I feel much better now and things should be okay.”

Man of the match was Teko Modise who concurred with his midfield colleague.

“The next match will be very difficult because the pressure is getting higher and higher,” the hugely popular Orlando Pirates star stated.

“We need to secure the next six points available,” – no mean feat given waiting for them in Bloemfontain on Saturday are tournament favourites and European champions Spain.

Tags: ailment, asian cup, backs against the wall, bafana bafana, confed cup, confederations cup, creative expertise, cup champions, Don, fa cup final, first game, ill health, Iraq, Joel Santana, johannesburg, midfielder, modise, New Zealand, Orlando, playmaker, predicament, premier league, Rustenburg, semi finals, South Africa, Spain, steven pienaar, two games, World Cup

Have Peru shot themselves in the foot over Guerrero and co?

March 23, 2009

After watching a Bundesliga game in which all the goals are scored by Peruvians, it is hard to imagine that the South American country’s national team is in such a predicament.

Paolo Guerrero scored twice for Hamburg SV on Sunday in their 2-1 win over Schalke 04, whose consolation was scored by his compatriot Jefferson Farfan.

But neither of them will be on the field when Peru host arch-rivals Chile in a South American World Cup qualifier, nor will Claudio Pizarro who has scored 12 goals for Werder Bremen this season.

Once considered the third team in South America behind Brazil and Argentina, Peru lie bottom of the 10-team South American World Cup qualifying group with a paltry five points from 10 games. Their results have included a 5-1 defeat in Ecuador and 6-0 thrashing in Uruguay. They have scored five goals in 10 games yet feel they can afford the luxury of doing without their top players.

Farfan and Pizarro were both suspended for 18 months by the Peruvian federation for alleged acts of indiscipline at the team hotel following a World Cup qualifier against Brazil in November 2007.

The bans were later cut to three months and have long since ended by coach Jose del Solar has refused to recall the pair, nor defender Santiago Acasiete who was banned alongside them.

Guerrero, meanwhile, is serving a six-match suspended for his furious reaction to being sent off during the Uruguay match.

Pizarro, in particular, has repeatedly protested his innocence and accused the Peruvian federation of using the alleged incident — based on the evidence given by a television reporter — as a smokescreen to hide its own problems,

“He (Del Solar) knew perfectly well that I was not involved and told me personally, but never said anything in public,” Pizarro said in a newspaper interview with El Comercio last month. “That hurt me. He knows he let me down.”

Peru’s problems go far beyond alleged indiscipline by the players. Last year, the in-fighting amongst Peruvian officials reached such a point that FIFA briefly suspended the country.

The players also complain about the country’s notorious tabloid newspapers and reality television shows, often accusing them of turning a quiet beer with friends into stories of all-night debauchery.

Last year, television presenter Magaly Medina spent two months in prison after being found guilty of defaming Guerrero.

In the meantime, Peru flounder at the bottom of the table and Del Solar’s refusal to recall Pizarro and Farfan seems to be a well-aimed shot in his own foot.

PHOTO: Schalke 04’s Mladen Krstajic challenges Guerrero for a header in Gelsenkirchen, March 22, 2009. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender

Go to Source