Lukaku Deserves Chelsea Chance

Today I’ve decided to focus on Chelsea, and in particular, who I think should be leading their frontline this season. If they do end up signing Wayne Rooney then he will undoubtedly be the main man at Stamford Bridge given the qualities he has on the pitch and also because of the amount they will end up having to fork out for. But as it stands, United are holding their own and making it abundantly clear that he isn’t for sale, meaning that as it stands, he won’t be wearing Blue on the opening game of the season. So who then should be Chelsea’s main man instead?

For me it has to be Romelu Lukaku, the 20-year-old did more than enough at West Bromwich Albion last season to show that he is capable of scoring a hatful of goals in the Premier League and deserves the chance to become Chelsea’s new main striker. With The Baggies he was able to create his own chances due to him possessing the ability to bully opposition defenders and his goals played a key part in helping the team finish as high as they did in the league table.

Now back at Chelsea, Lukaku should still be allowed the opportunity to take on the best that the Premier League can throw at him, but as well as giving opposition defences a nightmare, he will now get the chance to feed off a much higher standard of supply. Juan Mata led the Premier League assists table last season, with Eden Hazard not too far behind him. With Mata down the right, Hazard down the left, Oscar in the centre and Victor Moses and new signing Andre Schurrle there as good backups, there should be no shortage of goal opportunities this season at Stamford Bridge.

I also feel that Lukaku has earned the right to start ahead of the likes of Demba Ba and Fernando Torres. Ba did prove himself to be very useful at times last season when he joined from Newcastle United in January, but really he is no more than a backup striker at the club. Torres also improved in the second-half of last season, but Chelsea will never see a full return on the £50 million they paid for him in 2011 and with the Spaniard unlikely to be happy with a similar type of role to Ba this season, perhaps the time has come for the club to look at moving him on.

Chelsea play their first game of the season against Hull City on August 18th, but if pre-season form is also anything to go by, Lukaku has earned the right to be in with a shout of starting that game after scoring and impressing in several of the club’s friendlies in the past month. I’m sure that he must be giving manager Jose Mourinho something of a selection headache, but even if he doesn’t get the nod for the Hull match, it’s best not to forget that he is still only 20 and he will surely still keep going from strength to strength this season and beyond.

Andrew.

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Luis Suarez Saga - My Latest Thoughts

Until the respective Bale, Rooney and Suarez situations are sorted out, we will continue to debate them. Over the summer I’ve posted something about all three players, today I am going back to Suarez after reports emerged that he allegedly told The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian that Liverpool said he could leave if they failed to qualify for this season’s Champions League. We still await Liverpool’s response to this, but after a lot of thought on this situation, this is how I see it.

Suarez scored 30 goals in all competitions for Liverpool last season, he finished as the second highest scorer in last season’s Premier League but it still wasn’t enough to get Liverpool into either the Champions League or Europa League. His performances on the pitch have done more than enough to show that he is capable and worthy of playing in the Champions League. Liverpool have every right to feel reluctant about letting him go, but the facts are simple, they didn’t qualify for European competition this season and they should not be holding proven players back that want the opportunity to play there.

So while I believe that Suarez has every right to want a move, he should have looked to have conducted things in a more appropriate manner, especially after all the support the club has given him during his most controversial moments over the years. The fans continue to support him too and this was proven by the reception he was given when he came off the bench for the last 30 minutes of Steven Gerrard’s testimonial match against Olympiacos on Saturday. Surely for the sake of all of those that continue to look up to him, he should be trying to handle things in a different way so that if he does end up leaving, he will still have some respect in tact from many connected with the club.

To conclude, I believe Liverpool should not be as reluctant to let him go, because they are guaranteed to get a good price for him. And whatever money he would end up going for should be invested in either a replacement striker that still has the potential to score lots of goals, because there are plenty of them out there that I am sure would jump at the chance of playing for a club like Liverpool, or perhaps it should go towards investing in youth recruitment so that more young players are coming through the system and will stand a better chance of playing for the first-team instead of being let go at an early age and spending the rest of their career in lower league football. It’s a sticky situation at the moment, but one that both club and player should be looking to resolve as soon as possible so that both will be able to benefit from the eventual outcome. 

Andrew.

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The Future Of Cristiano Ronaldo

There are a couple of Manchester United supporters who I know personally that may not like or agree with this piece that I am about to write, but as it stands, I do not believe that Cristiano Ronaldo will be returning to Old Trafford to play for the Red Devils this season.

While he may not be getting the same kind of attention that Gareth Bale, Wayne Rooney and Luis Suarez are on a daily basis, Ronaldo is still the subject of many discussions and there is a strong belief that he won’t be a Real Madrid player for much longer. But the real question is what do you believe? Reports in Spain say he could be about to sign a new contract with Madrid that will effectively keep him at the club for the rest of his career, but during a recent press conference, Ronaldo basically stated that while he was happy at Madrid for the time being, he did not know what lies in store for his long-term future. Supporters and experts all across the globe have all had their say, and now it is my turn.

I can’t see Ronaldo leaving Madrid this season for any price, sure like every player in Spain, Ronaldo has a release clause in his contract, but that is reportedly around £800 million. New manager at the Bernabeu Carlo Ancelotti has made it pretty obvious that Ronaldo will once again be key to any success Madrid have this season and his inclusion in the club’s pre-season preparations so far don’t seem to suggest otherwise. When Ronaldo signed for the club back in 2009, everybody knew that he was joining his boyhood heroes, 4 years on, the man continues to be the clubs standout star and inspires young children all over the world to try and be the next Real Madrid legend, so what concrete evidence is out there to suggest that he would want to give all of that up now? I’m certain that he wants more success at Madrid, particularly the Champions League trophy, which has evaded him during his time at the club so far. I could be wrong, but from what I have seen and read, this has been enough to make me think that Manchester United supporters will have to wait even longer for any potential return of one of their greatest Number 7’s.

However, until there is any truth to these rumours about the Portuguese winger agreeing a new contract with Madrid, United faithful should not give up hope completely. There is still plenty of time for more developments in the transfer market, and anything can happen in football. If Ronaldo still hasn’t officially agreed to a new Madrid contract, and United end up selling Wayne Rooney for big money, the door then opens for them to break their own transfer record and try to bring the 28-year-old back to Old Trafford. I think it would definitely earn new manager David Moyes more “brownie points” with supporters that maybe still aren’t convinced that he is the right man for the job. Madrid will still likely take a firm approach with regards to transfer offers for Ronaldo and be quick to reject anything that comes in, but if history is anything to go by, keeping a potentially unhappy or unsettled player at your club can have negative effects both off and on the pitch.

I’d relish seeing Ronaldo playing in the Premier League again, but for now I just can’t see it happening. Right now clubs are rejecting big money offers for their players who do want to leave, so the chances of a club accepting a big offer for a player who isn’t as keen for a new challenge seem very slim right now. But, I guess all I can do right now is wait to see what happens next and end this piece with an old cliché. Never Say Never in Football.

Andrew.

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Gareth Bale Transfer Saga - My Thoughts

Along with Wayne Rooney and Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale is another name that just doesn’t seem to be disappearing at the moment when it comes to transfer speculation. Tottenham Hotspur say he isn’t going anywhere and they want to agree a new contract with him, but reports in the Spanish press claim Real Madrid are about to agree a deal with him instead.

I have no doubt in my mind that Gareth Bale would excel in La Liga if he ended up making the move to Madrid, but as long as he was going to be getting enough playing time for the kind of high fee that would likely be agreed for him. If you pay big money for a player, you can’t expect them to be warming the bench almost every game. It would also put him under increased pressure to succeed whenever he would play because supporters would be questioning why such an expensive player isn’t starting in matches and when he does play, he should be expected to play well every time simply because he cost the club so much money. I don’t doubt for one second that the Madrid faithful won’t give him the support he needs to help settle in quickly and feel welcome at the club, but if it takes him too long to start producing the same kind of displays that he has done for Tottenham in recent years, that support won’t last forever.

Personally I’d prefer it if Bale stayed in the Premier League, even if it wasn’t with Spurs, but I think the club are even less likely to sell to a divisional rival for a massive fee. I wouldn’t get the chance to see him play as often if he moved to anywhere else in Europe and his jinxing runs and incredible goals, just to name a couple of traits, would be greatly missed by the Premier League viewing audience. While it is another season in the Europa League for Spurs, the signings of Paulinho and Nacer Chadli look promising and there is still plenty of time for more additions that could help the club take the extra step this season. Should Bale leave, the chances don’t improve unless even more major investment is made to fill the void that he ends up leaving.

Reports that Bale is unsettled don’t surprise me, he is causing a stir in both the English and Spanish media and while it certainly won’t be doing him any favours, it also appears to be driving Tottenham crazy too. His manager and chairman say he isn’t for sale. The club reportedly wanted him to sign a new contract that would allow him to stay at White Hart Lane for another season, but should they fail to qualify for the Champions League again, a minimum fee release clause would then become active and Bale would then become available to anybody for a fixed price. There was no confirmation on whether or not that contract was signed or not, and so it allowed speculation to continue and reach the stage that it has now where all sorts are being said about the player and his whereabouts for the new season.

Like I said, I hope Bale stays in the Premier League, but right now it isn’t looking too promising. The Spanish press work in special ways that help players become unsettled before the big clubs like Real Madrid then have a clear shot at getting their man. Spurs are holding their ground, but it is surely only a matter of time before we are due something of a big breakthrough in this now dragging saga.

Andrew.

http://www.soccercv.com/articles/latest_news/ < News and Reports by me found here.

http://www.swol.co/profile/show/1390 < News and Reports by me also found here too.

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Rain Plays Havoc With Football Again!

                   

Yesterday afternoon I watched the Sunderland vs Tottenham Hotspur game in the Premier League Asia Trophy, the report I did for the game is available to read on the websites listed at the bottom of the page, but while The Black Cats ran out 3-1 winners in the end, the game was overshadowed slightly by a somewhat controversial incident caused mainly by “Mother Nature”.

The game looked in serious doubt at first as heavy rainfall meant huge puddles were starting to form all around the pitch, particularly in the central area. After consideration from the authorities in charge of running the tournament, it was decided that the Sunderland-Tottenham game and the Manchester City-South China game that followed would both still take place, but with a 30 minute delayed kick-off time and two 40 minute halves being contested instead of the usual 45.

At first I was pretty happy that the game was to go ahead as I was looking forward to reporting, and I’m certain the fans in attendance were even happier as they still got the chance to see some of their favourite players in action instead of having to go home and wait until the next day for the matches to take place. However in the 30 minutes before kick-off, there didn’t appear to be any sign of water being brushed off the pitch or anything else being done to try and get the surface in a slightly safer and better playing condition which surprised me.

I then had a feeling that the standard of football was going to suffer because of the poor conditions and I was absolutely right. The pitch looked like it had just hosted a rugby match beforehand, central based players were struggling to pass the ball properly at times and it certainly made the potential for mistakes to occur during the game and even bigger possibility. Unfortunately there was an injury moment during the game, but just the one. Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen was stretchered off early in the second-half after landing awkwardly during an aerial challenge and damaging his ankle.

Manager Andre Villas-Boas admitted after the game that he was not happy with the conditions and revealed that Vertonghen was due to to go for an MRI Scan today to discover how serious the injury is and if it puts him in doubt for the opening game of the Premier League season next month. While I’m not convinced that the conditions were completely to blame for his injury as players don’t always land in the safest way when challenging for a high ball all the time, but I completely agree about the poor standard of playing conditions.

It reminded me of last year when England travelled to Warsaw to play Poland in a World Cup Qualifier. Despite The National Stadium having a retractable roof, it was left open and on the day of the game, heavy rain fell for an extended period, and by the time night fell and the supporters were turning up to the stadium for the match, the pitch was drenched. Kick-off was delayed and the match was in jeopardy. Instead of looking at trying to close the roof and clear as much water off the pitch as possible, the roof stayed open, and not once, not twice, but three times the referee and his officials came out of the tunnel every 20 minutes or so to throw the ball on the surface and see if it would roll, it turned out to be a complete waste of time, the match was then called off and rearranged for the afternoon of the following day.

Back then the right call was made, but it meant a lot of travelling England fans missed out on seeing the team play the next day as most had flights booked to travel back home and could not rearrange. Rescheduling yesterday’s games for today could have been a much better option if it meant the playing surface would be in slightly better condition. Most fans watching these games in Hong Kong live locally, and any that have travelled from here to see their team play will most likely be there for Saturday’s games as well and will have accommodation and flights booked for after the tournament has finished.

I do have some sympathy for Richard Scudamore and everyone else at The Premier League though. Whatever decision was made was never going to please everybody. If you let the game go ahead like they did, you annoy the staff of the teams involved because you put their player’s health and safety at risk on a bad playing surface, but if you call it off, you disappoint all the fans in attendance that have travelled to the stadium to see some of the best players in the world, and you then have to send them straight home again because you’ve decided they can’t play because of the rain and a pitch not being very well maintained because of it.

Both games went ahead in the end and now Sunderland will face Manchester City in the trophy final on Saturday. Hopefully some lessons will be able to be learnt from this experience and football’s governing bodies may wish to discuss how these issues can be dealt with in a better way than before, but unfortunately because of how unreliable the sky can be, only a certain amount can be done, and football must work around the weather, because the other way round just isn’t scientifically possible.

Andrew.

http://www.soccercv.com/articles/latest_news/ < News and Reports by me found here.

http://www.swol.co/profile/show/1390 < News and Reports by me also found here too.

http://soccerisma.com/author/andy/ < News and Reports by me found here as well.

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Benteke Signs New Villa Contract - My Thoughts

                     

I had been holding off posting for a bit as I felt it might have been too early to start trying to actively start with contributions to the page, but I’ve decided to add something just now to pass the time and air my thoughts on new developments involving Christian Benteke.

Aston Villa’s number 20 has signed a new contract with the club which should pretty much end the speculation of a move away from Villa Park for the Belgian striker. The deal runs till 2017 and certainly puts Aston Villa in a much stronger position for the new season, but I have to admit that even if he had been sold, I’m sure that they would do much better this season compared to the last one.

Villa’s reported asking price was around the £25 million mark, which despite his young age, does seem quite an extravagant price for someone who has only spent one season in the Premier League. Tottenham Hotspur were reportedly the favourites to buy him when he handed in his transfer request earlier in the month, and while I’m sure they could afford it, I couldn’t see Benteke moving for as much as £25 million, if anything I think it would have been more between the £14-21 million mark. With that sort of money coming into Villa, they could have lined up a replacement striker if they wanted to plus other players and give themselves some real strength in depth at what is an already large numbered squad. Even if the new striker wasn’t the same type of striker that Benteke is i.e. a powerhouse who is both strong and quick, it probably wouldn’t matter to Villa supporters just as long as they could score as many goals as possible.

Benteke will now get to work with another new striker that Villa signed this summer, which is Nicklas Helenius. While I’ve not had much of a chance to see the 22-year-old in action, he does come highly rated after winning the Danish Superliga Player of the Year award last season and has made a good start in Villa’s pre-season games so far. The forward had initially expressed disappointment that Benteke had asked to leave Villa, but will obviously now be delighted that he has changed his mind and will now get the chance to work closely with him.

The news about Benteke’s new contract is also likely to push Darren Bent further out the Villa exit door with Newcastle United and now reportedly Fulham interested in his striking services. Questions might also be raised about the futures of younger strikers at the club such as Jordan Bowery and Nathan Delfouneso who may find opportunities in the Villa first-team limited this season. But Villa supporters and manager Paul Lambert will undoubtedly be the happiest with Benteke’s decision to stay. In a Villa side that lacked real quality at times last season, Benteke was still able to power his way past defenders and score 19 league goals and help the team avoid relegation. Now that he is officially staying put, supporters will hope it inspires the other players to learn the lessons from last season and come back even stronger this time around.

I shall be back closer to the start of the new Premier League season to predict exactly how I think Villa and the other teams will do this time around. I Hope you enjoyed this piece and if you have any feedback or questions you’d like me to answer then please leave a comment for me. I’d like to also mention that I have now begun writing for http://www.swol.co/ so if you are a fan of my work, there is somewhere else for you to now check it out. Thanks for reading.

Andrew.

http://www.soccercv.com/articles/latest_news/ < News and Reports by me found here.

http://www.swol.co/profile/show/1390 < News and Reports by me also found here too.

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Introduction

Welcome readers to my blog. Here is where I shall post my opinions on the goings on in the world of football. I started this page last season, but if you were to take a look back at some of my posts, you would see that I was basically just writing about what was in the news, but telling it how you might see it on a news organisations website. While I am able to do that sort of thing on another site, here I shall just share my opinions and views on the football talking points.

A lot of you might be wondering, “What makes this guys opinions so special?” and “Why should I care what he thinks?” and you would have every right to do so, I’m nobody special, I’m just an ordinary punter who lives a normal enough life and very rarely does anything out of the ordinary, but I have been a football fan for as long as I can remember, and I’d like to think that I’ve gained enough knowledge of the game just by watching and occasionally playing to know what I am talking about and be able to make fair comments and perhaps even get people thinking along the same lines depending on the situation at hand.

The main focus of my opinions will be on the goings-on of the Premier League. The competition I consider to be the best in the world and the one that seems to always have some news about it every day of the year, including during the summer months when no league football is even on. I will occasionally post about other things such as big news involving other clubs and competitions in the world, but as a UK resident, I’ve grown up with the Premier League and will continue to watch it until my last days.

The new Premier League season is only a month away, which means it won’t be long before I start to regularly contribute to this page. I shall share my thoughts on the pre-season period very soon as well and also make predictions on how I think the season will go for each team involved. Hope you enjoyed this introductory post, keep an eye out for more soon!

Andrew.

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