Tag Futebol

Hopes of survival continue to falter as defeat at Bradford pushed the Silkmen closer to the brink.

Barnet’s Friday night defeat had left the door open for Macclesfield to exit the relegation zone, but on current form the three point gap may as well be thirty. Confidence amongst the players and the fans is close to completely eroded.

The positives from the Crewe game were not built on and Horton did not even emerge for post-match interviews- keeping his players in the changing room long after the final whistle to pick apart the pieces of a dismal display. Of course it’s not over till it’s over, but it is looking increasingly likely that after fifteen seasons we will be back in non-league come August.

Traditionally this is the time for most teams to reflect back upon the season and nominate their player of the season. In our precarious position it is not the most pressing concern for Macclesfield fans and with the form over the last few months the question usually provokes a lot of votes for ‘nobody’. Even those willing to engage on slightly more detailed level will find their choices limited, not least by the fact that few players have stayed fit enough to have consistent runs in the team.

My personal choice would be Shaun Brisley. The (still) young defender has got his career firmly back on track and starting to fulfil the initial promise he showed when he broke into the first team. I was a bit concerned that we would struggle with Morgan unfit at the start of the season, but Brisley has really developed into a fine centre back.  Dominating at the back he spent the first half of the season alongside Nat Brown, forming the heart of one of the league’s meanest defences. A perfect candidate for player of the season. If only he hadn’t been loaned/sold to Peterborough in February.

Obviously some people have pointed the decision to allow such a key player to depart as one of the reasons for our current predicament. There is no doubt that Ben Futcher has not adequately compensated for the loss of quality at the back and if we could turn back the clock I’m sure we would all make a different choice – but how much choice we actually had in selling Brisley is up for debate.

It is one of the sad facts that a club of our size a means will always be vulnerable to losing our better players. It is as frustrating as it is necessary – with small crowds such profits are vital to our long-term existence. On the other hand it may also play a role in costing us our short-term league existence.

You could potentially make the case that the sales of Sinclair and Barnett should have put us in a position to refuse offers, but denying a player the chance to jump two divisions and vastly increase his wages is not necessarily constructive.  Also our financial strength is not as high as it might have been. Given the amount of players we have had to bring in – just look at the squad list on the back of a recent programme – a portion of this extra budget probably has probably been expended.

Perusing the alternatives for a vote will show that despite his early exit, only five players have made more starts for the Silkmen this season. Draper and Tomlinson are amongst the contenders, perhaps as a sign of how much we have missed them as much as what they have done on the pitch.

If results go against us it will seal our relegation on Saturday. If they don’t, you almost feel it will only be to prolong the torture. It will take a near miracle to save us now, there is still time for a miracle worker to step up and be remembered as the hero of the season. Still time, but only just.

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You can follow me on Twitter for even more Macclesfield discussion @AP_Macc

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I’m sure Arsenal fans are getting bored with being reminded they haven’t won a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup final, so I won’t harp on about Arsenal’s lack of success in recent years. Instead I’m going to suggest the main reason why Arsenal didn’t pick up one of the four trophies they were in contention for this season, was down to their defence. If Arsenal had a dominating and commanding centre back in the team last season I think they would have ended their trophy drought. Due to Thomas Vermaelen’s long term injury Arsenal were left with Johan Djourou, Sebastien Squillaci and Laurent Koscielny to marshal the centre of defence and there’s not enough quality there for a team who had Championship aspirations.

Arsenal’s centre back trio were erratic all season long and although they did put in some solid performances there was a lack of consistency. Arsene Wenger looked to address the issue in January when he tried to tie up a move for Blackburn’s Christopher Samba. However Samba decided to stay at Ewood Park and signed a contract extension with the club. The Congolese powerhouse may have signed a new contract in February but he hasn’t ruled out a move in the summer and with Phil Jones’ imminent departure to Man United it could be enough to convince him to leave as well.

It appears that Wenger is aware of the defensive frailties in the heart of his defence and while I think he should have been more assertive in January, he looks set to put things right in the summer. Arsenal have been heavily linked with Samba and Gary Cahill in recent weeks and either would make a welcome addition to the defence. Both are quality tried and tested Premier League players which I think is of paramount importance as they won’t need time to adjust to the Premiership. I’m going to focus on Samba and why I think he would be an excellent signing for the Gunners and could make the difference next season.

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What Arsenal lacked last season, that Chelsea had with John Terry, Man United with Nemanja Vidic and Man City with Vincent Kompany, was a strong, powerful defender with determination, athleticism and leadership skills. Chris Samba is blessed with all of those attributes and he would add the steel that was missing in the Arsenal defence last season. A defensive pairing of Samba and Vermaelen looks a very tasty proposition on paper and would certainly rough up opposing centre forwards. Samba’s no nonsense defending and physical presence is a throwback to Martin Keown and Tony Adams who were so successful for Wenger in their time under the Frenchman. Adding this dimension that has been missing from Arsenal’s defence can only enhance the team’s ambitions of lifting a trophy once more.

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Arsenal  are blessed with talent all over the park and if they can hold onto Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas this summer, adding a quality defender such as Samba to the mix could be the missing piece of the puzzle. There will still be many fans who think the goalkeeping situation is also an area of concern and even if Arsenal shore up the defence with a signing like Samba, not buying a quality keeper could still leave a trophy out of reach. Regardless of how Wenger acts in terms of a goalkeeper, I think buying either Samba or Cahill would bolster his leaky defence and make Arsenal more of a force.

With the recent release of Nike’s new football boot, as worn by Cristiano Ronaldo, the Mercurial Vapor Superfly II Safari represents a garish fashion statement and one that many people will treat as farcical. The era of bright coloured football boots has been with us for some time now and has been more or less accepted within the game without cries of laughter and ridicule emanating from those watching. This new launch by Nike represents something new, an evolution you might say, in which boots will become emblazoned with patterns and individual designs. This development got me thinking about how football boots have progressed from a simple functioning design into the aesthetic conscious designs we observe today.

With the football boots players wear can be drawn a certain stereotype or categorization based on that player in light of the boots they’re wearing. I’m not saying it’s true for all circumstances, but on the whole you can determine that, for example, if a player is operating on the wing then they will wear a boot that’s lightweight such as Nike Mercurial Vapors or Adidas F50’s. A striker will be much the same as a winger, whether they put emphasis on dribbling or not will add some weight to which boots they wear. This also applies to central midfield players who will predominantly wear more robust boots, such as Adidas Predators or adiPures and Nike Total 90’s. If a central defender then traditionally in England you’d be expected to strap on a pair of Umbro boots, but in general defenders will opt for the ‘no-frills’ boots. Goalkeepers are a totally different type of mentality and can be extremely varied, largely due to their gloves being more crucial to their role.

Now I know I’ve made some quite all encompassing generalizations but it can be used and is done so by the majority of players. For when a player wants to portray an image of how they play, they must first refer to their own conception of themselves as a player and then seek which football boots compliment that conception. This process then expands onto the pitch where everyone will make some sort of assumption based on the image of the opposing player. Whether this assumption is confirmed or revised is based on how they play, but it comes to show how much of an image conscious sport football has become and even at grassroots with children wishing to emulate professionals by having their boots.

Players such as Lionel Messi, Gareth Bale and David Villa wear Adidas F50’s, whereas players such as Xavi, Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard wear Adidas Predators or adiPure’s. The Nike contingent is made up of players such as Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo to mention a few. These players help to cement the form of player that wears which boot as everyone else will wish to copy the player, reflecting their position and style of play.

I remember when football boots used to cost little more than £50 when I was younger and as I grew up I saw the expansion of boot ranges that consisted of three different levels of the same boot and each having a different price tag dependent upon the quality of the boot. The higher the price tag, the better the boot as the marketing would lead you to believe.

At present there are five different forms of the Nike Mercurial Vapor, each having their respective price, with the top level costing an extortionate £274.99. This development has occurred over some twenty odd years and shows no signs of abating, especially when the belief that certain boots will enhance your abilities and cause you to improve. They may give confidence but stating this candidly, improvement comes from training, dedication and the player themselves and not which safari spotted boots they wish to pose in.

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After being without an international appearance for over 17 months, on Saturday evening at the Britannia Stadium, with seemingly little danger on the horizon, Peter Crouch skillfully juggled the ball and unleashed a spectacular volley into the far corner of the net beyond a helpless Joe Hart, delivering a potent reminder exactly why he is still England’s no.1 target man.

New School Target Man

After watching the Stoke City striker ply his trade in the Premier League for around 9 years I think it can be universally accepted by most England fans that though he may be 6’7, Crouch is never going to be a Duncan Ferguson.  Crouch is never going to be that brutish, old-fashioned British centre-forward that roughs up centre-halves, bullies them into submission and bullets headers into the back of the net.  Crouch is more of a continental style target man, relying more on his technical ability than physical attributes.  This makes him a unique commodity amongst the strikers of his type, being the only English target man more comfortable with a ball played to his feet than towards his head.

Technical Ability

For years Crouch has been subject of the backhanded compliment “He’s got good feet……..For a big man” when the truth is he has good technique regardless of his stature and is one of the country’s most technically gifted strikers.  Crouch may not provide you with the same heading ability as Andy Carroll, or possess the strength of Bobby Zamora, but in terms of technical ability, Crouch is without doubt the stand out candidate of the three.

Reliabilty

Amidst the toil Carroll has experienced at Liverpool and the disjointed season of Bobby Zamora at QPR and Fulham, Stoke striker Crouch has shown he is much more than a steady Eddie.  Across the span of His career the fans of the clubs he has played for would largely vouch for him as a reliable, quality performer.  Throughout the rigours of a Premier League season and on those big European nights Crouch has shown his quality.  Crouch is also a seasoned England international boasting a goalscoring record of 22 goals in 42 games whilst Carroll and Zamora are still unknown quantities, finding their feet at international level, holding only 5 caps with 1 goal between them.  Whilst Crouch may not consistently secure a place is the starting 11, as an England manager when you have him in your team you know exactly what you will get.

Seb’s Verdict

Crouch’s contender for goal of the season on Saturday evening served as a timely reminder in the mind of every England fan and potential England manager that he is more talented than the unspectacular Bobby Zamora, more reliable than young pretender Andy Carroll and still England’s no.1 target man.

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Read more of Seb’s articles at his excellent blog – The Drawing Board

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Ray Parlour and Nigel Winterburn, English Premier League title winners with Arsenal, have called on Arsene Wenger to deliver next season.Frenchman Wenger led Arsenal to three league titles and four FA Cups in his first nine years at the club, but the team are now without a major trophy in their last six seasons.

Retired midfielder Parlour, who played in all three league championship victories under Wenger, defended his old manager’s record, speaking at the London Legends Cup on Sunday.

But the fans’ favourite also acknowledged the importance of improving on a poor return in recent years.

“In a way, when Arsene Wenger first came to the club the supporters got a bit spoiled as he continued the tradition of winning trophies,” Parlour said.

“But you also have to look at what else he’s brought to the club with a new training ground and the infrastructure for a new ground.”

“The last six years haven’t been great in terms of winning things so I think he’ll need to reassess things and bring some new players in over the summer.”

Winterburn was a member of Wenger’s first Premier League-winning team in 1998 and also collected the old First Division title with Arsenal back in 1989.

Formerly a left-back, he believes the time has come for Wenger to alter his long-term policy of relying on youth development.

“I think Arsene Wenger will change it in the summer and will bring in some new players,” Winterburn said.

“It’s a massive season for Arsenal next year and a big summer ahead.”

“I think he needs to bring some more players in and maybe let a few go. This is where the manager has to earn his money.”

Prospective Liverpool owner John W Henry has reassured supporters that he too hopes the ownership saga is "sorted out soon" on the day the club is in the High Court.

Henry's New England Sports Ventures group is hoping to complete a £300million takeover at Anfield despite a dispute involving current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

They are attempting to block the sale in the High Court on Tuesday in a move which could throw the club into administration with debts in the region of £230million.

Henry, who also owns the Boston Red Sox, is not in London to watch the proceedings first hand but is keeping abreast of the situation as it unfolds.

In the meantime he has used Twitter to convey a message of solidarity with supporters concerned by the latest move of unpopular American duo Hicks and Gillett.

"Everyone is hoping for the best," he said."There have been enough twists and turns. Hopefully all gets sorted out soon; LFC moves forward.

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"It would be inappropriate and presumptuous at this time to respond to questions. In the interim, we're all rooting for the same thing."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

I can’t help but feel there is something completely wrong with the fact that there is a 3pm blackout on television for Premier League games kicking off at this time. It is beyond belief that you can go away to any country in Europe, Asia and African and find your team’s 3pm match televised, and yet, supporters in England have to make do with a ridiculous internet feed that conveniently cuts out or freezes whenever a crucial moment in the game approaches. Well it’s about time the Premier League started to make changes and introduce televised games no matter their kick-off time, just like the rest of Europe.

The actions of Karen Murphy, a pub landlady in Portsmouth, may set the ball rolling in a positive direction. She argued that while she was televising 3pm kick-offs in her pub through the use of foreign satellite channels, there was nothing illegal in her actions despite the ban enforced in England. Clearly, she’d found a way around the nonsensical ban that has been put in place and that everyone has for some reason come to accept. Rather than paying through the roof for one broadcaster that limited the amount of games that were shown, she has given herself the choice of provider and has only been paying a tenth of that price and has offered a better option than the increasingly frustrating but overly popular internet streams.

The Premier League has said many times that the 3pm kick-off will not be televised because it will discourage people from attending matches. In my eyes, the story becomes even more ridiculous when that is the primary excuse given. I’ve failed to see a drop in attendances for games at Old Trafford when Manchester United matches have been televised by either Sky or ESPN. Similarly, team’s like Newcastle continue to have healthy attendances. It’s down to the support of the fans and their desire to travel to home or away matches that dictates how many people are in attendance, not whether their team are being televised. But forget for a moment the notion that supporters will be discouraged from attending games if they are televised and rather look to the hugely inflated costs of going to football matches. The story of the first £100 ticket became a significant talking point last season; something which is exactly the sort of thing to discourage people from going to matches.

Yes, there may be changes lower down the leagues, where, like the top divisions in the country, there is a desire to preserve the traditional Saturday match-day experience with a healthy attendance at grounds, and even those who are casual fans might want to go along to support their local team. But why is this limited to only England? It’s almost as if we, as supporters, are being guided through what is right and wrong and having our minds made up for us. If people are shelling out huge sums of money for monthly subscriptions to BSkyB, then shouldn’t fans have a say in what they decide to do with their Saturdays, whether it be to attend the games or watch from home, without the Premier League or any other football organisation spelling out why it is such a hideous idea and one that could ruin English football. I’m not suggesting football fans have a divine right to watch all of their team’s matches on television, but simply why is there not an option when other countries, where the Premier League is of greater interest than their own leagues, have the freedom to choose which of the 3pm kick-offs they’d like to watch.

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As I’ve made the point, England seem to be the only major league in Europe where such a ban is enforced, and there is no reasonable explanation as to why fans in the country suffer for it. Internet feeds from various countries with a number of language options except English have become part of the furniture for most football households in the country on a Saturday afternoon, and yet, that seems to be ok by the Premier League and something they’ll continue to ignore. Well what difference would it make if those feeds were translated into broadcasts through Sky?

What the Premier League fail to recognise is that there is such thing as non-football cities or towns. By that I mean that places like Wigan, who share a ground with a rugby team, are going to experience lower attendances, and not because a more high profile game is televised at the time Wigan kick-off. Places like that suffer for other reasons and shouldn’t be used as an excuse to defend the 3pm blackout. It’s the same in North America: practically every city in the county is an American football city or town, from little leagues, through high school and college football and up to the NFL. But not every city is a baseball city, and most certainly, not every city is a hockey city.

But what about the other side of the coin; would lower league sides not benefit greatly if they were given more television exposure for their afternoon kick-offs. They rely on gate attendances, well why not get them involved in the revenue from television like clubs in the Premier League. It gives them a chance to open up to a wider audience than just those who reside in the immediate area. Of course, we just start the cycle all over again and we’re back to the topic of low attendances.

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Maybe the easiest thing to do is simply change the kick-off times. Why does every match bar the 12:45 Sky game or 5:30 ESPN game have to kick-off at 3pm? Simply shift times around and allow lower league teams to play their matches at different times to those of the Premier League. Easier said than done, of course, but surely there is enough of a reason to end the 3pm blackout than the tired excuse the Premier League continue to give.

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Some of the reported wages paid out to Premiership players is truly staggering, especially when some of the players taking home in excess of £40-50,000 a week, are at best average. Even the best players in the Premiership earn far too much money, Wayne Rooney and Yaya Toure are collecting wages of over £200,000 a week! Although it’s the players who are happy sitting on the substitute’s bench or the treatment table week after week out watching their bank account tick over that grates on me. These players are living a luxury lifestyle and are being paid obscene amounts of money for doing next to nothing. I can’t entirely blame the players for this though as it’s the clubs who pay the wages, or bow down to the demands of the players, whichever it may be!

There are plenty of players across the Premier League who are distinctly average and considering the economic climate at the moment, it beggars belief what they are paid. Wayne Bridge is the example I can’t quite fathom. Bridge signed for Chelsea in the early Roman Abramovich years and would have picked up a large signing on fee and a hefty pay packet. When Ashley Cole signed for Chelsea, Bridge became the second choice left back and his football became limited, however, he was still raking in considerable amounts of money as a back up. Bridge was then signed by the mega rich billionaires of Manchester City in 2009, I bet he couldn’t believe his luck. He signed a contract for £95,000 a week, that’s right Wayne Bridge a mediocre left back on £95,000 a week! Well after 42 games for the Citizens, manager Roberto Mancini decided he didn’t want Bridge either, so shipped him out on loan to West Ham.

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Portuguese marketing agency Futebol Finance published a top 50 footballers rich list in 2010 and Wayne Bridge was sitting in 44th place on £4.3 million a year. To put this into perspective, Bridge was earning the same amount as, Andres Iniesta, Charles Puyol and Frank Ribery, work that one out! Bridge has taken the brunt of my rant here but he was the one who has left me in disbelief. Shaun Wright Phillips has had a similar ride to that of Bridge, but without earning quite as much as my favourite left back!!!

Kireon Dyer has spent the majority of his career on the treatment table, although regardless, it hasn’t stopped the former Newcastle man picking up his share of astonishing pay packets. Dyer is on a reported £83,000 a week at West Ham, and get this, he has only played 30 times for the Hammers since 2007 and he hasn’t even scored a goal. How he is taking home that sort of money is gobsmacking! Under former owner Eggert Magnusson it wasn’t just Dyer getting a huge payday at the club, Freddie Ljungberg and Craig Bellamy were also said to be on wages in excess of £80,000! Then there is Benni McCarthy, Karren Brady’s favourite fat boy, she branded him in her column in the Sun as “a big fat mistake”. McCarthy has cost the club around £5 million pounds in total, the majority of which being his wages, not bad considering he played 14 games and didn’t score a goal! It’s fair to say West Ham were the victims of their own foolish mistakes in the transfer market and with their pay structure. However it still presents a selection of highly paid underperformers who in some cases have spent more time in their high street bank than on the football pitch.

The only way I can see around the problem of astronomical wages in football, is for the much talked about salary cap to come into effect. It would need to be a FIFA sanctioned rule applying to all football leagues across the world. The worrying thing is I can’t see the current system ever changing. While people such as nurses and emergency service men and women work tirelessly for their wage, Wayne Bridge continues to earn his mega bucks and we just have to accept that’s just the way it is.

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FootballFanCast.com WORLD Exclusive: Robbie Savage’s Face in a Baby Scan…

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West Brom manager Roberto Di Matteo was happy with the club debut of recent signing Paul Scharner in the 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.

The 30-year-old Austria international and former Wigan Athletic man impressed in a midfield role for the Baggies, as they secured a deserved point from The Hawthorns clash.

Di Matteo told the Birmingham Mail:“He certainly looks a good player for us. I knew him, I’ve seen him play many times and I spoke to him during the summer.

“He’s very professional, he’s very ambitious and he’s the kind of character I like in my team. He’s lively and sometimes people take that in a negative way.

“I wouldn’t say he is your typical football player. He’s got a little bit more about him and I wouldn’t see that as a negative – I would see that as a positive.

“On Saturday I thought he was tremendous for the time he was on the pitch. I knew before the game he didn’t have 90 minutes in his legs yet, but I thought he made a big contribution to our performance.

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“He gave everything in the minutes he was on the pitch and he will only get better the more games he gets under his belt.”

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Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has stated that his team’s 1-0 defeat to Brighton at the weekend had nothing to do with reports that his players were jaded after a training camp in Tenerife during the week.

The Tyneside club travelled to the Spanish island to conduct some warm weather training after their 5-2 defeat against Fulham last weekend, but reports indicate that some of the players were let off the leash to enjoy the social scene of the notorious party island.

Pardew however does not feel this was a factor in their defeat at The American Express Community Stadium.

“I don’t think there is any correlation with that at all, to be honest,” he told Mirror Football.

Despite the cup exit, Pardew’s men are still in an excellent position in the league, and the coach is prioritising this, especially once he gets a number of his senior first-team players back available again.

“We knew the Brighton game was important with the core of our team coming back.

“We knew if we could get through this one then with [Fabricio] Coloccini, Cheik [Tiote], Demba [Ba] and Papiss [Cisse] coming back it would arm us, but unfortunately it’s just got away from us.

“It’s a bit of a cliche but we are in a good position in the league and we need to strengthen that now by getting a result at Blackburn and hopefully against Aston Villa too,” he finished.

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By Gareth McKnight

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